A heated debate erupted in the House of Representatives on Tuesday after the chamber’s spokesman, Rep. Akin Rotimi, publicly endorsed President Bola Tinubu’s tax reform bills.
Rotimi, a member of the All Progressives Congress (APC), faced backlash from his colleagues after presenting two reports on behalf of Rep. Boma Goodhead, the absent chairman of the Committee on Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring, during Tuesday’s plenary session.
Speaker Tajudeen Abbas, who presided over the plenary session, acknowledged Rotimi’s leadership of a brief exercise.
Rotimi took the opportunity to brief his colleagues on the stance of Ekiti federal lawmakers regarding the contentious four tax bills that President Tinubu sent to the National Assembly on September 3, 2024.
He said: “Mr Speaker, I am from Ekiti State, the first state whose National Assembly caucus has unanimously endorsed the tax bills.”
The lawmakers present at the plenary session interrupted Rotimi, cutting him off mid-sentence, as chants of “No, no!” filled the air.
Despite the Speaker’s repeated appeals for order, the members remained defiant, refusing to allow the report to be presented.
The Speaker intervened, stating that Rotimi was merely expressing his personal opinion.
Rotimi also reminded his colleagues that he had the protection of the presiding officer.
However, Speaker Abbas’ attempt to downplay the situation by saying Rotimi was “just talking on a lighter note” and that they shouldn’t take it seriously failed to ease the tension.
Rotimi proceeded: “My introduction does not affect the substantive matter,” just as the speaker urged him to be restricted “to the person you are representing here. We are not talking about tax bills.
Cornered and with no clear escape, he said: “Hon colleagues, I withdraw the introduction. Mr. Speaker, I withdraw the introduction. I will introduce myself properly. Mr. Speaker, can I have the opportunity to speak?”
Abbas then intervened, saying, “Mr. Rotimi, you know this (tax bill) is a controversial issue. I don’t want you to be mentioning things that are not relevant to the subject matter. On your behalf, I withdraw that statement that you have made.”
Once a measure of calm had been restored, Rotimi rose to his feet again, stating, “Hon. colleagues, I would like to withdraw that introduction and restrict myself to the Order Paper.”
He later introduced himself without a word on the tax bills and laid a background of the report he was to present on behalf of Goodhead.
The Speaker asked for a seconder, but the lawmakers erupted into shouting again, prompting the Speaker to call for calm.
Abbas repeatedly pleaded, “I beg you, this has nothing to do with the tax bills,” but his words fell on deaf ears.
With no other choice, Rotimi took the floor again and requested, “I seek the leave of the Speaker and Honourable Members to step down the report.”
Rep. Philip Agbese, the deputy spokesman of the House of Representatives, faced a similar challenge when Kano lawmaker Tijjani Ghali called for his resignation.
Ghali, citing a matter of personal explanation under Order 6 rule 5, urged Agbese to step down from his position.
He said: “I woke up this morning to see an online publication from the deputy spokesman, saying those opposed to tax reform bills are seeking speedy passage. I am one of the first persons that opposed these bills vehemently, but the deputy spokesperson did not contact me as a stakeholder and did not seek my opinion on this.
“The heading is insinuating that for those who opposed these tax bills, there is an inducement somewhere. Therefore, I am calling for the withdrawal of this statement and an investigation and apology in print media because this is injurious to me, my people, my religion, and the region where I come from.
“Mr. Speaker, this is a breach of privilege and is unprofessional, unethical, and immoral. Therefore, I am personally calling (chorus, we are calling) for this matter to be investigated to find out those people opposed to the bills that are now asking for their speedy passage.”
Rep. Sada Soli, the representative of Jibia/Kaita Federal Constituency in Katsina State, proposed that the issue be forwarded to the Ethics and Privileges Committee for a thorough investigation.
Ruling on the matter, Deputy Speaker Benjamin Kalu promised action, saying, “Once a point of privilege is moved, it is not debated. You have asked for this to be investigated. But you did not tell whether to move it to ethics and privileges, and that is why Sada Soli came with his own. It is not in your prayer. There are many ways to investigate this.”
The tax reform bills have scaled their first hurdle in the Senate, but they are encountering significant resistance from the House of Representatives.
Persecondnews recalls that following a two-hour closed-door meeting on Thursday, November 28, the House of Representatives decided to prolong its deliberations on the bills until Tuesday, December 3.
Kalu announced that the House of Representatives would allow for further consultations on the bills.
He said: “What we did was to continue our consultation, which we promised the House on the tax bills, and the agreement at that session was to continue that conversation.
“This consultation is going to continue from now till Tuesday when we will hold a special session when we will invite these resource persons to be here in the House to engage us.
“Thereafter, we decide which way to go. This is to make sure that it is well documented that we did our consultation in the form of an executive session, and we are continuing that consultation till next Tuesday.”
In addition, the House of Representatives yesterday put debate on the bills on hold indefinitely.
The debate was initially scheduled for Tuesday, December 3, but was put on hold due to strong opposition from the northern governors.
It was called off in a memo signed by the Clerk of the House of Representatives, Dr. Yahaya Danzaria, as 73 northern lawmakers kicked against the bills.
Those who rejected the bills include 48 Reps members from the Northeast and 24 federal lawmakers from Kano.
The memo suspending the debate dated November 30, 2024, is titled, ‘Rescheduling of Special Session on Tax Reform Bills.’
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