PDP Reps members walk out on Gbajabiamila over Twitter ban

House of Representatives members elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Tuesday, June 8, staged a walk out after Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila ruled against a request to demand overturn of Twitter ban by the executive.

A lawmaker from Rivers state, Kingsley Chinda had raised a point of order, demanding that the house should ask the federal government to lift the suspension pending the conclusion of an investigation Gbajabiamila mandated relevant house committees to carry out and report back within 10 days.

While Chinda insisted that the 10 days duration means Nigerians won’t have access to the social media platform pending conclusion of the investigation, the Speaker ruled him out of order, stating that it can’t be revisited as the matter had been concluded and ruled upon.

He said; “It will be out of order to attempt to reconsider any specific matter which the House has concluded upon… unless there is a substantive motion.

“The matter has been sent to relevant committees of the House to investigate, and they will report to us in 10 days.

“Even though you have got a motion here, we would have referred it to the same committee, the motion would have been killed. You have not complied with order 9 rule 6, you are ruled out of order.”

A rowdy session however ensued in the House as Chinda, who is the leader of the PDP caucus insisted on the demand. He then led other PDP members out of the plenary.

Addressing newsmen after PDP lawmakers staged a walk out, Chinda stated that the matter should have been open for debate.

He said; “Let me commend the decision of the leadership of the House to mandate relevant committees to investigate the ban on Twitter operations in Nigeria.

“We just want to add that the federal government should lift the ban pending the outcome of the investigation.”