Lawmakers’ diplomatic passports: New PDP, Presidency trade words

There was controversy in Abuja  on Sunday over  the  alleged move by the Federal Government to withdraw the diplomatic passports  of the Senate President,   David Mark, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal,  and other members of the National Assembly.

A national newspaper (not Sunday PUNCH), had on Sunday reported that President Goodluck Jonathan  had ordered that the diplomatic passports of all members of the National Assembly be withdrawn.

The  Peoples Democratic Party’s faction, known as the New PDP, condemned the alleged plan , accusing   Jonathan of  overheating the polity through some of  his  actions.

The New PDP claimed,  in a statement  by its National Publicity Secretary,  Chukwuemeka Eze, that  the plan to withdraw the lawmakers’ passports  was because of their sympathy for  it.

The statement reads in part, “We are worried about the dire implications of the reported directive by the Presidency for the withdrawal of the diplomatic passports of the Senate President,  David Mark,  the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal, and all other members of the National Assembly.

“The directive, according to reports published  today (Sunday), is attributable to the Presidency’s anger over the lawmakers’ sympathy for the progressive faction of the ruling PDP, led by the Alhaji Baraje.

“The implication is that whenever they travel abroad, the 109 Senators and 360 members of the House   would no longer enjoy the special privileges the blue-coloured passport confers on its holder, meaning that they can be arrested like ordinary citizens.”

It  said the directive, if eventually carried out, would only end up unnecessarily overheating the polity. The faction  added that those encouraging the President in this direction were  his true enemies.

The group  therefore advised Jonathan  to consider the consequences of working against the legislators who have stood by him all these years and even introduced the ‘doctrine of necessity’ that brought him to power against the wish of the cabal that sought to exploit the sickness of   President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua(now late) to rule by proxy.

But The Presidency on Sunday faulted the claim by the Baraje faction  , saying the  President was not overheating the polity with some latest steps attributed to him.

In a telephone interview with one of our correspondents, the Special Adviser to the President on Political Matters, Ahmed Gulak, said members of the New PDP  whom  he referred to as “renegades,” were  on a mission to self-destruction.

“The allegation that the President is overheating the polity is not true.  Passports are categorised and diplomatic passports are only given to specific people,” he said.

When contacted, the Special Adviser to the Speaker on Media and Public Affairs, Mr. Imam Imam, told The PUNCH that he was not the competent authority to comment on such matters.

But a source close to the speaker said that his passport was intact.

Also,  the Special Adviser (Media) to the Senate President, Mr. Kola Ologbodiyan, said, “There is no truth in  the rumour.”

 However, findings by The PUNCH on Sunday showed that Senators and members of the House of Representatives had already been notified by government that their passports would be withdrawn.

An authoritative   source in the National Assembly Service said  the lawmakers were originally not on the list of those approved to carry diplomatic passports.

According to him , only the Senate President, the Speaker of the House of Representatives and their deputies were listed.

He added that the  Nigerian Immigration Service included them on the list following a   directive by the late President  Yar’Adua.

The source said, “What is happening is that the passports of the Senate President and that of the Speaker are intact. Their own is statutory and the question of withdrawing or withholding them does not arise. Only the passports of Senators and members of the House  are  to be  withdrawn. “They are already  being notified  individually by the Immigration Service through a letter.”

A Senator, who spoke anonymously with one of our correspondents, said he had yet to be notified of the plan. He however said he suspected that only lawmakers who did not return to the National Assembly were affected.

The Baraje faction of the PDP had  also claimed on Sunday  that the Special Adviser to  the President  on National Assembly Matters,  Senator Joy Emodi,  was sacked  because of her candid advice that inducing members of the National Assembly financially to impeach their principal officers would be counter-productive.

The faction  said if this was true, Emodi must be reinstated immediately.

It  said, “For Senator Emodi to have been bold enough to tell Mr. President the implication of such a corrupt inducement of the lawmakers should earn her commendation rather than a sack.

“Instead of sacking such a forthright and patriotic Amazon, the President should sack those hawks around him planning to ridicule him by encouraging him to embark on acts capable of making him very unpopular amongst his supporters and followers.”

On the abandoned  work at the  Port Harcourt International Airport, the New PDP said the President should sack the Minister of Aviation, Mrs Stella Odua.

It added that the action of the minister might have been as a result of the perceived conflict between the President and  the  Governor of Rivers State, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi.

The PDP faction said, “Mr. President, if it is true that the Aviation Minister, Princess Odua, has abandoned the remodelling of the Port Harcourt International Airport while completing those started at the same time because of the assumed conflict between you and your brother, Governor  Amaechi , we demand her immediate sack before she causes further damage to your administration.

PUNCH