The House of Representative has passed a vote of no confidence on the Minister for Mines and Steel Development, Kayode Fayemi, for his failure to appear on a sectoral debate on the Ajaokuta Steel Company.
The House had, several weeks ago, invited Fayemi, his Minister of State, Bawa Bwari, Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun, among others to the debate.
The Speaker, Mr. Yakubu Dogara, informed members that he personally wrote Fayemi a letter on February 16, inviting him to address lawmakers on the state of affairs in the steel sector and on Ajaokuta in particular.
But, both Ministers had responded through the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Abdulkadir Muazu, in a letter dated 27th, February, stating their inability to attend due to official engagement.
“The Honourable Minister has prior diplomatic schedule engagement in preparation for the focal labs of ERGP relating to the Mining Sectors while the Minister of State will be leading the Ministry’s delegation to Canada to attend the PDAC Conference”.
The Speaker had again sent a letter, signed by his Chief of Staff, Jerry Manwe, requesting the presence of one of the Ministers due to the crucial importance of the meeting.
“I am further directed to respectfully state that the House considers the attendance of one of the Ministers in the Ministry of crucial importance to its legislative intervention in the Steel sector to ensure timely completion of the Ajaokuta Steel Plant, and consequently requests you to reconsider the apparent boycott of the House’s sectoral debate.
“We are worried that the apparent boycott of the session by your ministry can only lend credence to the allegations that the top echelon of your Ministry are deeply conflicted in the matter.”
The Ministry again iterated that both Minister would be absent due to the reasons cited in the first letter sent to the House.
The Speaker went on to inform the Minister that the debate will go on with or without their attendance.
Speaking, House Leader, Femi Gbajabiamila said he considered the Ministers’ attitude as contempt of the House.
“The debate gives ample opportunity to clear the air against all accusations, there is more to it than meets the eyes. This is an assault on common sense for the two ministers to have done this.”
The lawmakers also resolved to set up a powerful investigative ad-hoc committee to investigate all the surrounding events in the Ajaokuta steel company.
According to Dogara, Adeosun called to explain that she was in Kaduna and would arrive in Abuja by 4 pm to address the House, Fayemi merely said he was unavailable, but wished the House well.
The Speaker later asked Gbajabiamila to move a proper motion on what action should be taken against the Ministers.
He summarised by moving a motion of vote of no confidence in the two Ministers (Fayemi and Bawa-Bwari) which was seconded by Mrs. Ayo Omidiran, (APC, Osun State) and passed in a unanimous voice note.
Fayemi’s response
In a Statement signed by his Media Aide, Olayinka Oyebode, Fayemi described the action of the House as “draconic”, claiming the Ministers have very cordial relationships with the National Assembly.
“While the offices of the two ministers have been inundated with countless media enquiries regarding their absence shortly after the pronouncement, it is important to state unequivocally that the inability of the two ministers to attend the debate was duly communicated to the leadership of the house in two separate letters.
It is rather unfair for the House members to categorise the Ministers absence as “boycott”, when they were adequately notified.”
Vote of No Confidence
Vote of no confidence, also known as motion of no confidence, is a statement or vote which states that a person(s) in a position of responsibility (government, managerial, etc.) is no longer deemed fit to hold that position, perhaps because they are inadequate in some respect, are failing to carry out obligations, or are making decisions that other members feel are detrimental.
In a system like Nigeria’s, it is an action that notifies the President that Legislature no longer has confidence in an appointee of the Government.
Vote of no confidence may lead to compulsory resignation of the position holder and sometimes, may not require reasons to be specified, in other nations.
Precedence
In February, the House of Representatives passed a vote of no confidence on the Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, asking President Buhari to remove him and replace him with a more professional Police officer.
In a motion sponsored by Danburam Nuhu from Kano state, he described as “unfortunate” the rising cases of thuggery in the State, saying it is sponsored by some politicians.
He also drew the attention of the lawmakers to the “complicity” of the Nigeria Police.
“We must use all legislative instruments available to this house to discourage it in the strongest terms and curb this barbaric act of terror.”
Nkem Abonta from Abia state said it is, “very undemocratic” for the police who are supposed to be protecting the citizens to now be the ones going against the law.
This Vote had no effect on the Presidency.
Minister by All Means
President Buhari has shown reluctance to any changes to a Ministerial list he came up with 6 months after being sworn into Office. Earlier criticism of Kemi Adeosun, a non-partisan general dislike of Abubakar Malami, and Aisha AlHassan’s declaration for his political opponent did not change the list of Ministers.
Mr. Fayemi, on its part, has earlier been banned from holding any public office for the next 10 years by an Ekiti State Judicial Panel of Inquiry which indicted him in a case of corruption. Although perceived to be a vindictive judgment, ETN24 showed how the ruling can be argued to mean he cannot be a Minister.
This will be the second legal body saying Mr. Fayemi is not fit for office, but not much is expected from the President as what has changed the original list of Ministers had been death and UN appointment.
