Reps may intervene in Ekiti Assembly crisis

Strong indications have emerged that the National Assembly may intervene in the crisis rocking the Ekiti State House of Assembly.

Specifically, the House of Representatives has indicated its readiness to take over legislative functions in the state, as allowed by the Constitution, should the crisis in the state Assembly persist.

The House stated that it would deliberate on the crisis in the legislative chamber when it reconvenes on December 3.

The Ekiti Assembly now has two factions, with 19 members of the All Progressives Congress under the leadership of the Speaker, Mr. Adewale Omirin on one hand and another set of seven members led by a new ‘Speaker,’ Mr. Dele Olugbemi on the other.

The second group are all members of the Peoples Democratic Party.

In what was regarded by the APC as a controversial circumstance, the seven had sat on Thursday in Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti State capital, to sack Omirin and his deputy and inaugurate Olugbemi as the new Speaker.

Speaking on the development in an interview with SUNDAY PUNCH, the spokesman for the House of Representatives, Mr. Zakari Mohammed, said members of the Lower Chamber were monitoring the development in Ekiti.

He, however, ruled out the possibility of reconvening for the sole purpose of deliberating on the crisis.

Mohammed said, “We are still on break till December 3. However, we will be monitoring events as they unfold. We can’t discuss Ekiti while we are on break. When we reconvene, we will know what to do.”

Section 11 (4) of the 1999 Constitution states: “At any time when any House of Assembly of a state is unable to perform its functions by reason of the situation prevailing in the state, the National Assembly may make such laws for the peace, order and good government of that state with respect to matters on which a House of Assembly may make laws as may appear to the National Assembly to be necessary or expedient until such time as the House of Assembly is able to resume its functions; and any such laws enacted by the National Assembly pursuant to this section shall have effect as if they were laws enacted by the House of Assembly of the state.”

However, the resolution to take over functions of a state Assembly requires the concurrence of the Senate to have the force of law.

Besides Ekiti, a similar crisis is playing out in Ebonyi State, where there are two factions in the state Assembly.

The House of Representatives had intervened in the crisis in Rivers State House of Assembly and a similar action on Kogi State House of Asembly.

Also speaking to SUNDAY PUNCH, the Chairman, Senate Committee on Information, Media and Public Affairs, Senator Eyinnaya Abaribe, on Friday said the Upper Chamber would take a formal position on the crisis rocking the state Assembly when it resumed plenary on Tuesday.

Abaribe, however, pointed out that the Senate had not been officially briefed on the development.

He said, “There was no such information before the Senate as of Thursday that we adjourned. I cannot anticipate what the Senate will do on an issue that is not yet before it. When the issue is brought before us, certainly, we will act on it.”

Meanwhile, the APC on Friday said President Goodluck Jonathan should be held solely responsible for the political stalemate in Ekiti.

The National Publicity Secretary of the party, Lai Mohammed, said this in an interview with one of our correspondents.

According to the APC, if the Federal Government sanctioned the illegality happening in Ekiti, then the nation’s democracy is at risk.

The party’s spokesman also said President Jonathan’s alleged overt and covert support for impunity was capable of sinking the ship of democracy.

Mohammed said, “This man (Ayo Fayose) is not eligible to stand for elections in the first place; what do you expect? That is where we should start from. I don’t know why Nigerians are not looking at the matter from the root.

“Two, this thing we are seeing today in the Ekiti State House of Assembly did not start today, it started when as governor-elect, Fayose led a pack of thugs to beat up a judge. What did Nigerians do?

“Three, he couldn’t have done all these without the connivance of the Police and who is in charge of the Police? It’s the President.”

He maintained that the blame for the desecration of the Nigerian Constitution, the destabilisation of the polity and the deliberate attempt to undermine democracy across the country had the imprint of the Presidency.

“Whether it’s Ekiti, Edo, Rivers or Adamawa, the story is the same. The Presidency is the unseen hand. Why are we talking about Ekiti in isolation? What we are seeing today is worse than what we saw under (former President Olusegun) Obasanjo,” he said.