Federal lawmakers in the House of Representatives have deferred a debate on the use of soldiers for the March general elections.

A motion to stop the Federal Government from deploying troops during the general elections, sponsored by the minority leader of the House, Femi Gbajabiamila, was stepped down yesterday following contributions by some lawmakers that the issue was a subject of litigation.

A lawmaker, Karimi Sunday, raised a point of order, saying the House could not comment on any matter pending in court.

Sustaining all points of order raised on the motion, the Speaker of the House, Aminu Tambuwal, said that the matter was a sensitive issue which he expected every member to take very seriously.

He appealed to lawmakers on the need to seek counsel on the motion.

He referred it to the Joint Committees on Rules and Business, Justice and Judiciary to advise the House on the matter on the next legislative day – Tuesday, February 24.

The motion also asked the House to set up an ad-hoc committee to investigate the role played by the military and some government officials who featured in the secret audio tape on Ekiti elections in 2014.

Prior to this, the first issue that came up at Thursday’s plenary in the House of Representatives was a matter of “urgent national importance” raised by a lawmaker from Akwa Ibom State, Robinson Uwak, on the attack at a political rally in Okirika, Rivers State on Tuesday.

Mr Uwak said that the spate of political violence across the country called for urgent and decisive measures.

This caused the House to mandate the Nigerian Police to investigate, arrest and prosecute all persons involved in the Okirika attack in which a staff of Channels Television was stabbed by some unidentified hoodlums.

•Source: Channels TV.

*Photo shows Tambuwal

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