House of Representatives has described the spokesman of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, as being ignorant of the House rules following his recent comment that the Deputy Speaker, Hon. Emeka Ihedioha, manipulated proceedings to prevent the debate on the $9.3m motion on cash-for-arms saga on the floor of the Lower Chamber. The House said that Lai Mohammed spoke out of ignorance as someone who had no knowledge of the House rules. The Chairman of the House Committee on Rules and Business, Hon Albert Sam-Tsokwa, disclosed this to House Press Corps over the weekend while clarifying the position of the House on the comment accredited to the APC chieftain.

Sam-sokwa said all its proceeding are guided by the standing orders of the House, adding that by the standing orders, the House is precluded from debating issues that border on infrastructure, security and any issue pending in court.

He emphasized that throughout the time he presided over the House, the Deputy Speaker had always been patriotic and had put the interest of Nigeria over and above any other interest. "Everybody is a layman in the field that you are not a specialist or conversant with and so also everybody is ignorant in an area you don't know anything about. Alhaji Lai Mohammed did say in reference to the motion of $9.3m allegation that the Deputy Speaker manipulated the proceedings of that day and prevented a debate on the issue. "Let me say that the Deputy Speaker had all through the time in presiding over the House proceedings, he has been patriotic and has put the interest of Nigeria above any other interest. "Let me say again that members of the Seventh Assembly have always acted together as a House of Reps irrespective of our political lineage where it is in the interest of the nation to take a particular position," he stated.

The lawmaker explained that such motions, once taken on the floor of the House, the question must be put and if it was carried should be referred to the appropriate committee. He maintained that the motion on $9.3m seeks the House to constitute a committee to investigate the truth or otherwise of the allegation. Sam-Tsakwa insisted that the arms deal of $9.3m was an investigative motion, saying by the House rules it needed not to be debated on. He reiterated that the sponsor of the motion, Hon Suleiman Kawu Abdurrahman, was not even supposed to move the motion on that day because it was not on the order paper. The lawmaker pointed out that the Deputy Speaker even bended backwards to take the motion notwithstanding that it was opposed by some members. He said he was not aware of any breech of the House rules which require disciplinary action, stressing that the walk out staged by the APC members last week over the stalling of the motion was not an offence that would attract sanction. According to him, "I am not aware of the breech of our rules, which require disciplinary action in which case, disciplinary action has not been taken. It is not every breech of the rule that will attract sanction. Staging a walk-out on the floor of the House will not be the first time neither will it be the second time. So staging a walk-out is not an offence that will attract sanction."

It would be recalled that Alhaji Lai Mohammed said recently that the Deputy Speaker, Hon Emeka Ihedioha, manipulated the proceedings of the House to prevent the debate on the $9.3m motion on the floor of the House. The House of Representatives, on Tuesday last week, erupted into commotion as the All Progressives Congress, APC lawmakers staged a walk-out over the stalling of the motion on the smuggle of $9.3m cash into South Africa.