By Newsmate
The former national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Audu Ogbeh, has upbraided members of the National Assembly over the use of voice votes in approving President Bola Tinubu’s imposition of emergency rule in Rivers State, describing it as “a camouflage”.
Speaking Thursday night on Channels Television programme, “Politics Today” after the Senate and the House of Representatives had endorsed the emergency rule which suspended the governor, Siminalayi Fubara and his deputy, Prof. Ngozi Odu as well as the 32 lawmakers, Ogbeh emphasised that, “Ayes and nays do not give us a clear picture of the position and the moral authority of individual senators or members of the House.
“Nobody should hide under a shadow. If you want a vote, say so; if you don’t want it, say so. But this ayes and nays is a camouflage, it doesn’t work”.
According to the former minister of Agriculture, the grandchildren of the Senate and House of Representatives’ membeers would one day probe how they voted to approve the emergency rule proclamattion by President Bola Tinubu in Rivers State.
According to him, “When the matter came before the National Assembly for voting, I would like to suggest to the National Assembly to install a capacity in the future for individual voting which they can print out; not ayes and nays.
“Someday, 10 to 20 years from now, their children and grandchildren and researchers would like to find out how individuals voted on particular bills.”
On the larger implications of the Rivers State crisis, Ogbeh opined that “Rivers State is bigger than any individual. We, as a country and as countrymen, are not interested in watching a situation where Rivers State and the entire Niger Delta will go up in flames.
“Nigeria has lived off the Niger Delta for 40 years. We appreciate what they have done for Nigeria because their oil has been fuelling our expenditure.
“Nobody wants a crisis in the Niger Delta”.
While appealing to the feuding parties to sheathe their sword, Ogbe insisted that President Tinubu should have called notable Nigerians to mediate in the Rivers logjam.