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By Idris Miliki Abdul.
The 6th Kogi State House of Assembly was inaugurated on the 4th of June 2015 and since then a lot has happened in the life of this very important institution. It all started after the inauguration on that day, with the election of Hon. Momoh Jimoh Lawal representing Okene I State Constituency as The Speaker.
He continued to preside until a drama emerged when a group of 5 members of the Assembly, on the 16th of February 2016, less than one year of the inauguration of the House, and less than the required number (two-third) pronounced the impeachment of the Speaker, Hon. Momoh Jimoh Lawal and some of the principal officers of the House, they announced Hon. Umar Imam as Speaker. That led to a lingering crisis which affected the smooth running of the Assembly for several months. This also led to legal actions by aggrieved members under the leadership of the then impeached Speaker, from High court to the Appeal court.
However, after this unfortunate development, which led to the intervention of the National Assembly, which set up a committee that visited the State House of Assembly. This could however not resolve the crisis. The Appeal court sitting in Abuja pronounced on 28th June 2016, that the impeachment of the Speaker Hon. Momoh Jimoh Lawal, and others was illegal, null and void. Despite this ruling, and with the intervention of various stakeholders, on the 26th of July 2016, in a letter addressed to The Clerk of the House, Hon. Momoh Jimoh Lawal resigned as Speaker. On that same day Hon. Umar Imam emerged as the Speaker of the House.
Legislatures all over the world are independent arms of government created by law and the constitution, they perform duties and functions based on the law and constitution that established it, and Kogi State and Nigeria cannot be an exception. However, what took place in the premises and on the floor of the Kogi State House of Assembly on the 1st of August 2017, is uncalled for, unnecessary, uncivilized, and barbaric.
It all began at about 10 am on that fateful day, when staffs and Honourable members arrived for their functions and other visitors to the Assembly that are expected to perform other functions and witness the proceedings of the Assembly as is the practice. However, a new development was witnessed at the premises of the Assembly were unusual faces were seen moving up and down and this lead to arguments at the gates of the Assembly. At the end of the day, suspected hoodlums invaded the Assembly and disrupted the proceedings.
On the 3rd of August, 2017, Hon. Matthew Kolawole representing Kabba/Bunu State Constituency and the Majority Leader was elected as the Speaker due to the resignation of Rt. Hon. Imam Umar in a letter addressed to the clerk of the assembly.
As a regular visitor to the Assembly, participating in public hearings, through written presentations, lobbying and Advocacy on legislative freedom and independence, the 6th Assembly in my opinion, is with a mixed feeling in the last 3 years. It is normal in a human society/organization to have improvement and setbacks. However, the 6th Assembly in the last 3 years has been an interesting one. It had passed several motions and bills despite constant adjournments, which is the right of legislature globally, that regulates its own activities as an independent arm of government.
The quality of debate, the hours of sitting, the numbers of attendance by members of the House, is an improvement over the previous ones I have witnessed. We have also witnessed renovations by the Executive in the current assembly, although not to the expected standards. However, it has improved on the performance of the legislators.
But we are very worried that despite the huge resources expended on the 6th Assembly, the numbers of oversight functions and their reports, has not been too encouraging. It is regrettable and worrisome, in the 21st Century and in the present digital age, and the level of information dissemination required, The Kogi State House of Assembly is yet to have a functional website. We call on the Assembly, as we move to the 4th year, to seriously look in that direction, so as to help the documentation process and data for both members of the Assembly and their activities.
It is also pertinent to create constituency activities and offices. While we had witnessed some, a lot of the members are yet to comply with this obligation.
KOGI STATE HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY EXTEND THE TENURE OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT ADMINISTRATORS FOR THE THIRD TIME
According to the 1999 Constitution as Amended, Local Government Council in Nigeria is the third tier of government, and section 7(1) state clearly” there shall be a democratically elected Local Government Council across the Federation of Nigeria.”
The tenure of the democratically elected Local government Councils in Kogi State ended since May 6th 2016 and since then, there is no genuine effort to conduct election to the local government council in the State.
Under the current administration of Alh. Yahaya Bello who took oath of Office on the 27th of January 2016, to protect and uphold the constitution of the Federal republic of Nigeria as the Executive Governor of Kogi State. In the 2016 budget, there was no provision to conduct elections to the Local Government Council, as a result of that, the governor inaugurated Local government administrators in the 21 Local Government Councils on 6th May, 2016. One year after the inauguration, the Governor transmitted a letter of request of extension of Local Government Administrators by 6 months despite that, in 2017 no provision was also made in 2017 budget for SIEC to conduct election, but N450 million was provided for SIEC in 2017 budget as subvention.
Despite that inadequate provision for an agency that is supposed to conduct election to another tier of government, it was worrisome and unconstitutional, unlawful and undemocratic for the same governor who took oath of an office to uphold the constitution of the Federal republic of Nigeria transmitted another letter on the 10th of November 2017 to the Kogi State House of Assembly requesting for another extension by 6 months of the same unelected Administrators in all the 21 LGAs in Kogi State on the excuses that due to lack of fund and security.
The same government admitted on the 23rd April 2017 at a stakeholder meeting in Government House that it has received on behalf of the Local Government Councils in Kogi State N10 billion Naira.
While we are yet to know what the government has received from April 2017 to May 2018 on behalf of the Local Government Councils, the State Assembly again extended the tenure of the Local Government Administrators for the third time on the 10th of April, 2018 based on the letter written to the Assembly requesting for such extension by the Executive Governor of the State Alh. Yahaya Bello, which was given express passage and current extension commenced from 1st May 2018.
We wonder what the monies collected on behalf of the Local Government Councils has been spent for that elections could not be conducted as provided for in the constitution.
In 2015 despite the security situation in the North-East the Federal Government conduct elections into Presidency, National Assembly, the Office of the Governor and the State Assemblies. Moreover in May 2018, despite similar challenges, Kaduna state organised a successful Local Government Elections. What level of security challenges in Kogi State that made the government unable to conduct Local government elections in to the Local Government Councils in two years of it existence. It is currently on the website of Kogi state government that it spent not less than 5 billion naira on security in 2017 alone and 9 billion naira has also been approved in 2018 budget for security.
We hope this government will obey the provision of the law and conduct elections into the Local Government Councils in 2018.
Can the government implement constitution in insolation? How much do we require genuinely to conduct elections into Local Government Councils in the state? Have the governor visited SIEC office in the last 26 months he has been in the office? How much has the governor release to SIEC for the conduct of the Local government elections in the last 26 months for the preparation toward conduct of credible Local Government Councils in Kogi State?
Based on the State, Federal High Court as well as Supreme Court pronouncements, does the Kogi State House of Assembly has the power to extend the administration of another tier of Government as a law-making institution?
The 90 days provision for SIEC in the 1999 constitution to come out with a program or timetable to conduct election into the Local government Council has not been adhered to.
Despite these various extensions, how are we sure elections will be conducted to the Local government councils at the end of this third extension.
We call on Kogi State House of Assembly to stop further extension and work with the executive to put machineries in place to conduct elections into the Local Government Councils without further delay in the interest of justice, democratic principle and constitutionalism as the constitution cannot be implemented in isolation.
CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT AUTONOMY
The framers of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999(as amended) out of an abundance of wisdom decided that the alteration of the organic and fundamental law of the land embodying its shared aspirations and values which bind us together as a people must be a tripartite arrangement involving the National Assembly, the State Assemblies and the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The wisdom in this tripartite arrangement is to avoid ideological, ethnic or religious capture of the fundamental law of the land. In other words, the framers of the Constitution envisage a national outlook and flavor in constitutional alteration.
Civil society groups and organisations expect the State Assemblies to pass resolution that gives life and meaning to all the issues in the transmitted document because the State Assemblies have previously voted on and passed some of the issues in the present document.
We recognize the fact that the issue of what is now referred to as “Local Government Autonomy” remains a sore point. The State Assemblies should look beyond its appellation and see the Bill as giving constitutional life to the judgments of the Supreme Court guaranteeing the tenure of office of elected Chairmen and Councillors of the various Local Governments.
Nigerians expect that this time around, the State Assemblies will strengthen the State Assemblies through a process of financial autonomy. The stability of the State Assemblies, their independence of action and service as the tribune of the people is inexorably tied to their financial independence and autonomy.
Nigerians expect broad consultation with critical stakeholders in the various states on any of the issues which the State Assemblies consider as “contentious”. Civil society groups will in that vein assist in mobilizing public opinion and informed impute into any of the issues.
The State Assemblies must not allow and should not allow politics, political exigencies and political coloration to overshadow rational thinking in the constitutional alteration process.
Incremental and targeted alteration to the constitution can legitimately legitimize our constitutional framework and domicile its ownership with the Nigerian people.
As at now, ten States House of Assembly in Nigeria has voted in respect of the Local Government Autonomy in the on-going constitutional amendment and eight has voted positively in line with the aspiration of the Nigerians. Out of the six states in North Central, only Kogi and Nasarawa are yet to vote on the Local Government Autonomy.
We call on the Kogi State House of Assembly to expedite actions on this constitutional responsibility and vote in favour of Local Government Autonomy.
Finally we congratulate the sixth Kogi State House of Assembly on their 3 years anniversary and wish them more successful tenure.
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