LAWMAKERS lost their temper yesterday.

The House of Representatives plenary turned rowdy over alleged smuggling of N6.1 billion into the 2010 supplementary budget of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) for sim card registration.

The proposal had been rejected seven times by members, but it was allegedly surreptitiously approved last Thursday.

Majority of the members of the House who vehemently opposed the alleged clandestine passage of the budget claimed that they were ambushed by the leadership of the House to pave the way for the passage.

In the heat of the argument over the action, Speaker Dimeji Bankole stepped down from his seat. That led to another round of rowdiness that lasted for about 20 minutes. Members on both sides of the argument lashed out at one another.

Everything was brought to a standstill, as members contemplated a walk-out, thinking that the Speaker was going to walk out on them.

In the end, Bankole took Deputy Speaker Usman Nafada’s seat and allowed him to preside. While Nafada was presiding, Bankole slipped out of the chambers, ostensibly to attend a public function.

Trouble started when the Chairman of the House Committee on Drugs, Narcotics and Financial Crimes, Hon. Nasir Rabe, speaking under an Order of Privilege, objected to the passage of the NCC budget.

Rabe said he was part of an ad hoc committee which looked into the legality or otherwise of passing the NCC budget with the sim card component, but that he was neither invited nor consulted.

Bankole then invited the Chairman of the Rules and Business Committee, Hon. Ita Enang, to explain what happened on the floor last week.

Enang said the controversial amount was passed in plenary after the report of the ad hoc committee, headed by newly-pardoned Hon. Ehogie West-Idahosa, was submitted to the House.

But majority of the legislators shouted: “When? When?” signifying that though they were in plenary on the said date, they were not part of the approval.

Bankole invited West- Idahosa to explain how the committee reached its conclusion.

West-Idahosa said the committee examined all extant laws and discovered that passing the N6.1 billion sim card registration component with the bill was not illegal and that the report was submitted at plenary and passed by the members.

He said when the ad hoc committee was considering the issue, efforts to reach Hon. Rabe Nasir, a member, failed.

Bankole told members that it was too late for them to protest the passage of the budget as the votes and proceedings of the said date (Thursday 25 November (2010) had earlier been approved at the opening of yesterday’s sitting.

Minority leader Mohammed Ali Ndume described the passage of the NCC budget with the N6.1 billion sim card as “an ambush”. The passage of the budget was, however, left to stay.

Minority Whip Femi Gbajabiamila told reporters that the procedure leading to the budget’s passage was faulty, adding that he might contest it in the law court.

“I think it is a matter the House needs to look into and do justice again. We will try and do whatever we need to do to make sure that the matter is revisited. I am a member of the House; I have the locus standi to go to court and say that a law that we passed was illegal and outside our purview. There is nothing in the House Rules that stops me from going to court, if I don’t agree with something, if I think in the best interest of Nigeria,” Gbajabiamila, (A CN, Lagos) said.

He added: “I swore to an oath to protect the constitution and the extant laws of this country. There is a law which I am part of, the Advance Fee Fraud Act, which specifically gives the power for the registration of sim cards to the EFCC. If there is a law that contravenes that, I have the right to go and seek redress in court. It is a constitutional right.”

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