Not long ago, the seven PDP members in the APC- controlled Ekiti State House of Assembly, who apparently fell short of the number required to form a quorum of the 26-member legislature, purportedly impeached the Speaker, Dr. Adewale Omirin, and his Deputy. Under heavy police protection, they installed Hon. Dele Olugbemi, who recently decamped to the PDP from the APC, as Speaker. The major offence of Omirin, according to the PDP legislators, was that he and his Deputy were absent without official notice, thereby grinding the business of the House to a halt. With the claim that “government is a continuum”, the Minority Leader, with the six other PDP legislators, went ahead to screen and clear the list of commissioner-nominees forwarded to the House by Governor Ayo Fayose. Omirin and the other 18 APC lawmakers have since left the state, citing risks to their lives, while the Speakers of the 35 other states in the country have said they would not recognise Odugbemi as Speaker. Speaking under the umbrella of Conference of Speakers of State Legislatures (CSSL), the Speakers criticized the total disregard of due process in the alleged impeachment, describing it as illegal. While it is not stated in any part of the constitution of Nigeria that the Conference of Speakers of State Legislatures must recognise a duly elected Speaker before he functions as one, there is no doubt that what happened in Ado-Ekiti on November 20, 2014 reeks of illegality. Without prejudice to whatever relief the embattled APC lawmakers might get from the courts, it is glaring that the arithmetic of this impeachment does not add up. There is, indeed, something curious about the arithmetic of this impeachment. It is shocking that the wish of seven people could be imposed on that of 19 people in a democratic dispensation. Although those who claimed to have impeached Omirin insist that they had 10 members present at that off- the-camera impeachment sitting, they have failed to produce the other participating lawmakers outside of the seven PDP members. Incidentally, seven members cannot even form a quorum to have a sitting in a legislative House with 26 members, let alone conduct an impeachment exercise. According to legal convention, which is clearly stated in Section 9(4) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), whenever any percentage of legislators is required for the passage of a Bill into law or to impeach a president, Vice President, Governor, Deputy Governor or Speaker, the required percentage must relate to the total number of members in the House, not to the number of members present. However, we will be playing the proverbial ostrich if we fail to recognise the fact that the desperation that led to the Gestapo-style impeachment of Omirin and his deputy, was brought about by the seeming refusal of the APC-controlled House to allow the new government of Fayose to properly take off, after his inauguration. Clearly, by throwing out every request from the governor, including that to appoint commissioners and properly constitute the executive arm of the government, the leadership of the House did not leave anyone in doubt that it was out to frustrate Fayose, because he is of the rival PDP. With the conclusion of the Ekiti governorship election, and the swearing in of Fayose, the patriotic and constitutional thing for every aggrieved person to do is to take every protest to the courts, and not using partisan politics to hold the entire state to ransom. So, while we condemn this kangaroo impeachment and add our voice to those who have said it must not be allowed to stand, we also want to appeal to APC not to use its present numerical strength in the Ekiti House to frustrate governance. The party must not be seen to be pushing the governor to the wall, making the state ungovernable and forcing him, or his supporters, to resort to self-help, as is clearly the case in this impeachment of Omirin. Incidentally, this kangaroo impeachment is taking place in the same Ekiti, and around the same Fayose, whose major claim to national sympathy, and ultimate re- election, was the fact that he was crudely and unconstitutionally ‘impeached’ during the Olusegun Obasanjo administration in 2006. The impeachment of Omirin brings back memories of the darker days of our present democratic experimentation, such as the impeachments of Governors Diepreye Alamieyeseigha in Bayelsa, Joshua Dariye in Plateau, Rashidi Ladoja in Oyo and, of course, Fayose in Ekiti. It is a path that no law-abiding Nigerian would want the nation to tread again. It is also for this reason that we feel Gov. Fayose must distance himself from the legislative rascality demonstrated by the seven lawmakers. Even though nothing has directly connected him with the action of the lawmakers, he is a direct beneficiary of the perfidy, and it is not surprising that fingers are pointing in his direction. The Nigerian constitution has provisions with which a governor can get round hurdles placed on his path by uncooperative legislatures, at least, until such a time that the hurdles are cleared. The Fayose government should explore these provisions while it works on a permanent resolution of this impasse. Ekiti is not the first state where a sitting governor’s party does not have the majority of the membership of the legislature. The situation should, therefore, not lead to a crisis. We call on the lawmakers and their respective backers, both within and outside Ekiti State, to seek a speedy and peaceful resolution of this matter. This crisis is not only overheating the polity, it is handing Ekiti people the wrong end of the stick in their quests for development and enjoyment of other dividends of democracy. Let us give peace a chance in Ekiti. Signed. Ogunyemi Olamide PLATO SA media to jcc chairman ekiti axis +2347065507787.
Posted on: Fri, 05 Dec 2014 16:07:49 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015