 |
The memories of the Nigerian
Civil War came alight on Tuesday as some members of the House of
Representatives from the South-East geopolitical zone disregard a call
to honour the late Gen. Benjamin Adekunle.
Punch reports that The members bluntly refused to observe a minute of silence for
Adekunle, a civil war hero nicknamed “Black scorpion” for his reported
exploits during the war on the side of the Federal Government.
Adekunle had died on Saturday at the age of 78 years while the lawmakers were on their annual recess.
They reconvened on Tuesday and took a decision to honour the late
general, following a motion moved by the Majority Leader of the House,
Mulikat Akande-Adeola.
As the Speaker, Mr. Aminu Tambuwal, called on members to rise and
observe a minute’s silence in honour of the deceased, some of the
South-East lawmakers grumbled.
Two of them, Mr. Arua Arunsi, and Mr. Udo Ibeji, refused to stand.
They sat throughout the one minute as other lawmakers heeded Tambuwal’s call.
The grumbling continued and almost marred the moment of silence.
At a point, Tambuwal was forced to interject, “the one minute will start counting after the last voice is heard.”
Despite the interjection, the murmuring continued, leaving Tambuwal
with no choice than to end with “may his soul rest in peace.”
There was subdued laughter in the chambers after the prayer ended,
with many members looking in the direction of Arunsi and Ibeji.
No comments:
Post a Comment