By Obinna Uballa
Hours after the House of Representatives abruptly adjourned its plenary session amid rising tension over the 2026 budget, neither the House leadership nor its official spokesman has offered any explanation for the unprecedented development.
Calls and messages sent to the House spokesman, Akin Rotimi, went unanswered, while other key members, including the Chairman of the Committee on House Services, Hon. Amos Daniel, also declined to respond to inquiries as of press time.
The silence followed Tuesday’s chaotic session, which ended abruptly after a tense closed-door meeting that lasted about an hour, a rare occurrence last witnessed only when the chamber suspended sittings to honour a deceased member.
Lawmakers had gone into the executive session immediately after Speaker Tajudeen Abbas arrived the chamber, but upon resumption, the atmosphere reportedly turned heated when Ifeanyi Uzokwe from Anambra State repeatedly sought recognition to raise a point of order.
His attempts were reportedly ignored by the Speaker, who instead proceeded to make routine announcements, including a notice of an emergency meeting of the South-West caucus. Moments later, House Leader Prof. Julius Ihonvbere moved a motion for adjournment, which was swiftly adopted without debate.
No official explanation was provided for the adjournment, but multiple sources within the Green Chamber told Punch Newspaper that disagreements over members’ welfare, unpaid constituency funds, and the handling of President Bola Tinubu’s N1.15 trillion loan request were at the centre of the crisis.
President Tinubu had, in a letter to the National Assembly last week, sought approval for the borrowing to fund the deficit in the 2025 budget. He explained that the facility was necessary to close the N14.1 trillion gap created after lawmakers increased the 2025 appropriation from N49.7 trillion proposed by the Executive to N59.9 trillion.
However, lawmakers reportedly refused to consider the request after the one-week ultimatum they gave the Ministers of Finance, Budget and National Planning, and the Accountant General to clear outstanding debts to indigenous contractors expired without action.
Sources disclosed that many members were also angered by what they described as deepening inequality in the disbursement of funds within the National Assembly, as well as the poor state of members’ finances.
The discontent was amplified earlier on Tuesday when Ismaila Dabo, member representing Toro Federal Constituency of Bauchi State, circulated a lengthy message on the House’s WhatsApp group titled “My concern and the sad reality about the 10th National Assembly.”
In the message, which was later deleted from the group, Dabo lamented that despite a significant rise in the National Assembly budget – from under N160 billion in 2023 to about N360 billion in 2025 – most lawmakers were struggling financially. He claimed many members could not afford rent, travel to their constituencies, or repay loans, while local moneylenders were pursuing them over debts.
“The majority of members cannot afford to pay their rents, many are unable to travel to their constituencies, and several are facing serious challenges with their banks due to loan defaults,” he wrote. “Sadly, members have been reduced to beggars in town.”
He blamed the proliferation of committees under Speaker Abbas’s leadership for weakening the chamber’s oversight functions and alleged an alarming disparity between the allocations given to Principal Officers and ordinary members.
“The inequality has exposed many members to political risks,” he wrote. “Imagine a situation where a Principal Officer executes projects worth over N50 billion in your state, while you, as a member, are struggling with a portfolio of less than N1.1 billion that isn’t even funded.”
Dabo called for a “financial adjustment” that would raise members’ monthly allowances from N12.5 million to N30 million and urged the leadership to reduce the number of committees to improve efficiency.
Insiders confirmed that Dabo’s message and the underlying grievances it captured dominated Tuesday’s closed-door session. Another lawmaker from the North Central region told The PUNCH that the Speaker, during the meeting, defended the House leadership and denied siphoning any part of the legislative budget.
According to him, the Speaker invited the Chairman, House Services Committee, Hon. Amos Daniel, to explain that the N120 billion increase in the 2024 National Assembly budget was spent on capital projects, including new car parks, a National Assembly hospital, a recreation centre, and the purchase of official vehicles.
However, several members reportedly expressed anger over what they considered misplaced priorities, citing items such as the purchase of standing fans and dustbins from the capital vote. “That money could have been used to improve members’ running costs in this difficult economic situation,” one South-East lawmaker said.
Despite the growing unease, the House leadership has maintained complete silence. Neither the spokesman nor the Speaker’s media team has issued any clarification on the abrupt adjournment or the alleged internal rift.
The House is expected to reconvene today (Wednesday), with expectations high that the contentious issues – particularly the N1.15 trillion loan request and members’ welfare concerns – will dominate proceedings.
