In another unwarranted display of recklessness, five members of Kogi State House of Assembly decided to make a mockery of the doctrine of rule of law, when the lawmakers had on February 16 announced the removal of its Speaker, Mr. Momoh Jimoh-Lawal on the grounds that he managed the affairs of the legislature like his personal estate.
Suffice to say that it becomes pertinent at this juncture to engender an anatomical examination of the carcass of this crisis, particularly within the vineyard of the law. The Constitution, speaking through Section 96(1), provides that, “The quorum of a House of Assembly shall be one-third of all the members of the House”. In the matter at hand,
one-third of 20 are approximately seven, so apparently we could that a quorum was not duly formed.
This recent abysmal display of the five lawmakers is a flagrant disregard for the supremacy of law and an exaggerated exuberance on the part of lawmakers who are expected to be independent of the Executive following the doctrine of Separation of Powers.
This infantile play on words by the five lawmakers is an insult on the collective sensibilities of the people of Kogi State.
It is fruitless reiterating that a parliament should epitomise constitutional profundity, a culture of checks and balance, and unmatchable respect for the law, as against arbitrariness and abuse of the confidence reposed in them by the people. These five lawmakers have not shown any of these qualities, and their act is rather “depressing”, as expressed by their party leadership and leaves a bad taste in the mouth.
Without holding brief for any party in the crisis, and notwithstanding the genesis of the ongoing imbroglio in the state, the five lawmakers’ act is highly condemnable, and one expects them to retrace their steps, and return the state to the path of the law. This is a state richly endowed with human and material resources yet, on the verge of attaining for itself an eternal reputation of political crisis.
The people of Kogi State deserve more than this burden of crisis, and it is high time reason prevailed over political rascality.
Balogun Emmanuel Funsho, from University Of Ilorin.
He can be reached on 07034444976 or via irule9ja@gmail.com
