A federal lawmaker, Dawodu Bashiru, has defended the decision of the Nigerian House of Representatives to use voice vote in approving President Bola Tinubu’s declaration of a state of emergency in Rivers State.
Many had kicked against the declaration of state of emergency and suspension of Governor Siminalayi Fubara and every elected officer in Rivers State, calling on the National Assembly to reject it or follow every due process in voting for its approval.
However, despite the uproar that greeted the move, the House of Representatives approved it even casually by using a voice vote.
That has added another layer of controversy to the crisis in the oil-rich state but Dawodu, representing Oshodi/Isolo of Lagos State in the House of Representatives, does not see anything wrong with it.
He waved off criticisms over the lawmakers’ decision, saying the House is empowered to determine the voting format.
“The point that I’m making is that it’s also constitutional that the House is going to determine the way it operates on an everyday basis,” he said on Channels Telelvision’s Sunday Politics, adding, “that is the law.”
Dawodu argued that while the lawmakers used electronic voting in some matters, the House of Representatives is not bound to do so in all situations.
“Well, it depends on what we’re doing in terms of the rule. I’ll give you an example. When you look at the last time, we also had electronic voting when we were going to elect the speaker [Femi Gbajabiamila].
“It’s different from what happened this time when we’re going to elect the speaker [Tajudeen Abbas]. So the rules are different,” he said.
“I think every day in our practice, we do voice voting. I don’t think this particular situation is different.”
It is no longer news that Tinubu declared a state of emergency in Rivers and suspended elected Governor Siminalayi Fubara and his deputy, Ngozi Odu, alongside members of the Rivers State House of Assembly.