#TwitterBan: PDP Reps Walk Out During Plenary

Picture showing some of the PDP lawmakers walk out during plenary on Tuesday, June 8, 2021.

Some lawmakers of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Tuesday staged a walkout during plenary at the House of Representatives.

The lawmakers staged the walkout after its caucus leader Kingsley Chinda was ruled out of order by Speaker of the House, Femi Gbajabiamila.

Mr Chinda had prayed the House to urge the Federal Government to suspend the ban while the house conducts its investigation into the legality of the ban.

Chinda noted that the implication is that the ban would remain for 10 days and the rights of Nigerians would be kept in abeyance during the period of investigation.

The Speaker, however, cited part of the Standing Orders of the House stating that a matter that had been concluded by the parliament cannot be revisited for a debate.

The Speaker, therefore, ruled Chinda out of order, a decision that did not go down well with some members of the opposition who walked out of plenary.

The PDP lawmakers also insisted that they would continue with their threat to go to court over the matter.

PDP caucus in the House of Representatives had earlier threatened legal action against the Federal Government over its ban of Twitter operations in Nigeria.

Leader of the caucus in a statement last week Sunday noted that the Nigerian government does not have the power to ban the social media platform, arguing that the action lowers the country’s image in the eyes of other democratic nations.