Members of the House of Representatives in Wednesday went in a rowdy session over the declaration of who becomes the lower chamber’s minority leader.
The rowdy session followed the Speaker’s decision to abandon a letter by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) nominating Kingsley Chinda as Minority Leader.
The PDP is the largest minority party in the House.
The speaker, Femi Gbajabiamila, went ahead to announce Ndidi Elumelu as Minority Leader which culminated in a protest by members of the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.
However, Elumelu is also a PDP member but the matter got complicated when an unidentified lawmaker grabbed the mace of the lower chamber.
It took the intervention of the other lawmakers and sergeant-at-arms before he left it.
In the meantime, the opposition PDP has described the action of Speaker Gbajabiamila as an attempt to impose leadership on the opposition.
A statement issued in Abuja on Wednesday by Kola Ologbondiyan, its National Publicity Secretary gave the names as Hon. Kingsley Chinda (Minority Leader), Hon. Chukwuka Onyema (Deputy Minority Leader), Hon. Yakubu Barde (Minority Whip) and Hon. Muraina Ajibola (Deputy Minority Whip).