Minority leadership: Reps bar first-time Lawmakers from principal position

…ends Ugochinyere’s ambition

The House of Representatives on Wednesday adopted a resolution that bars first-term lawmakers from occupying principal leadership positions, a decision that effectively shuts out recently nominated Ikenga Ugochinyere from emerging as Minority Leader.

The decision followed the adoption of a motion sponsored by Babajimi Benson, who sought a precise interpretation of Order Seven, Rule 15 of the House Standing Orders, which provides that only members with cognate legislative experience are eligible for appointment as principal officers.

By unanimously adopting the resolution, lawmakers clarified that cognate legislative experience means membership of the House for at least one complete legislative term and that no other interpretation of the provision should apply.

The move comes amid an unresolved struggle over the minority leadership following the resignation of Kingsley Chinda, who left the position after emerging as the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate in Rivers State.

Ugochinyere, a first-term member representing Ideato North/Ideato South Federal Constituency of Imo State, had been nominated by 61 members of the minority caucus to succeed him.

Presenting the motion, Benson argued that parliamentary best practices across the world reserve principal leadership positions for experienced legislators in order to preserve institutional memory, deepen understanding of legislative procedures and strengthen competence in constitutional interpretation and intergovernmental relations.

The Lagos lawmaker also noted that the Senate recently defined cognate legislative experience as requiring Senators to have completed at least one full four-year term, while lawmakers with multiple previous terms must have served in the immediate past Assembly.

According to him, a clear definition was necessary to promote parliamentary stability and continuity, minimise avoidable turbulence and ensure mature representation in international parliamentary engagements.

The House subsequently resolved that cognate legislative experience should be interpreted as applying only to members who have completed at least one full four-year term and declared that no other definition of the term exists within its rules.

However, the motion was not adopted without objections. Raising a point of order, Solomon Bob argued that Order Seven, Rule 1 expressly empowers the Speaker to interpret the House rules and warned that adopting such a motion could be seen as the Speaker surrendering powers vested in his office.

In his ruling, Speaker Abbas Tajudeen said he deliberately allowed the House to make the interpretation in order for members to be seen as speaking with one voice on the matter.