By Gloria Ikibah
Plenary in the House of Representatives was thrown into a rowdy session on Tuesday following a comment made by the House Spokesperson and Chairman Commitee on Media and Publicity, Rep. Akin Rotimi on the controversial tax bills.
It all started when Rep. Rotimi stood up to present a report on Nigerians Content Development and Monitoring, on behalf of the Commitee chairman, Rep Boma Goodhead who was absent on the floor.
He said: “My name is Akin Rotimi Jr. I represent the people of Ekiti North comprising Ikole and Oye Local Governments. Mr Speaker, I am from Ekiti State, the first state whose National Assembly caucus has unanimously endorse the tax bills”.
At this point Lawmakers got offended and started to chant No! No! No! then the house was thrown into a rowdy session.
However, the Speaker waded in, and said: “He is expressing his personal opinion.’ He was just talking on a lighter note. Let’s not take it serious.
“Restrict yourself to the person you are representing here. We are not talking about tax bills. It is a very controversial issue. He therefore asked Rotimi to withdraw the statement.
“You know this is a controversial issue. I don’t want you to be mentioning things that are not relevant to the subject matter. On your behalf, I withdraw that statement that you have made”.
Rep. Rotimi in response apologized, and withdrew the statement but members who were very angry, demanded the report be stepped down.
He was not allowed to present the report and was forced to step the report down.
“I seek the leave of the Speaker and Hon members to stepdown the report” he said.