By Baron Ike
For reasons best known to him, the speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara has failed to swear in Dorathy Mato, the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, whom the Supreme Court declared as the representative of Vandikwa/Konshisha federal constituency of Benue state in place of Herman Hembe.
Mato wept on Thursday, July 6 after Dogara allegedly refused to swear her in even though she said she came prepared.
The apex court had held On June 23 that Hembe, former chairman of the house committee on the federal capital terittory (FCT), did not win the ruling party’s ticket to represent the constituency.
The court also ordered Hembe to refund all the salaries and allowances amounting to several millions of naira he had earned in two years.
Mato could not control her emotions and so could not face the reporters.
However, Maureen Acka, a lawmaker from the Benue state house of assembly, who came with her wondered why the swearing in ceremony did not take place, saying that Mato was a victim of alleged manipulation by Hembe.
Acka also wondered why the woman was not sworn in after “fulfilling all the requirements”.
Acka said:“We all came in anticipation of this but they kept dilly-dallying.
“They asked to wait that they were coming and we all waited patiently, only for them to come out and nothing happened. Papers have been filled, and she has done all the things required of her. This is really strange… I just pray and hope that this is not some kind of a game because it will not be right. We know the law.
“I’m a member of the APC. I was in ACN before… she (Mato) is a honourable person…”
Acka said it would be bad if the case borders on gender discrimination, and appealed to Dogara and his team to do the right thing.
Her words: “This issue of women’s gender equality, empowerment and all of that, you intimidate us but we survived. We managed to swim across, when we swam, we got victory at the court, you now want to shove us back to drown?
“We have come to the right quarters where victory is to be sealed… We are trusting the speaker and every other person involved will do the right thing. What is the problem here today? There is no tangible reason that has been given.”
But House spokesman, Abdulrazak Namdas told reporters that if Mato had met the requirements, she would have been sworn in, ruling out the possibility of gender discrimination.
Namdas said:“It’s not true that the speaker has refused to swear her in because she is a woman,” he said.
“A colleague of mine from Adamawa state lost his seat after a court of appeal ruling. He was replaced by a woman named Talatu, she was sworn in immediately.
“So, you can see it is not an issue of gender bias. I know, as a matter of fact, that if there is any pronouncement by the court, there are also some processes you have to undergo in the house before you are sworn in.
“I’m not aware that that has been done. I have to look at it well. If all the necessary things have been done, I don’t think there is any reason that she will not be sworn in.”