‘We Are Beyond Trading Blames Over Security Challenge’: National coordinator, Goodluck Initiative for Transformation (GIFT), Chinedu Okpalanma, thinks that Nigerians and the government have moved beyond buck-passing on the security challenge. He sits with ONUOGU KANAYO JUBAL What is your reaction to the recent ruling of the Court of Appeal in Benin City regarding the four suspended lawmakers? I think it is kudos to the rule of law and it is a clear testimony to the fact that the Edo State House of Assembly-the law-making body of the state obviously respects the rule of law as well as the law that they themselves make. This has also reaffirmed that the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is sacrosanct; nobody is above the law. All of us together must obey the constitution of the country. How did this crisis get to this extent? I think the PDP decided to turn it into a political issue. The House of Assembly has its rules and regarding the issue of suspension for erring members and members that are disobedient to the rule of the House, the provisions are there for necessary punishments and one of them is that you can be suspended; after which if such persons that are suspended show remorse through appealing, they are recalled. So, it is a normal exercise that is not supposed to have degenerated to the crisis it became in Edo State. It is just because some PDP leaders felt they needed to create an economic empowerment for themselves. The PDP chairman in Edo State and his leaders have been idle so they now used this as a means of empowering themselves. What they did was to push these four lawmakers to break the law; and also push the lawmakers in conjunction with the police to create what seemed like a crisis. They have been idle so they needed to create work for themselves and so in the process get hand-outs from Abuja to fuel the crisis, so that they will now be seen to be active. The suspended members believe they are being persecuted because they defected from the APC to the PDP, your thoughts. Decampment or no decampment, if we are to use that as a punishment, we are supposed to declare their seats vacant and not just suspension. They know that Section 109 is clear about defection; all the indices that allow one to decamp are there and they know that their decamping does not have the blessing of Section 109 and that is why they rushed to court to deter us from declaring their seats vacant. As law-abiding citizens completely obedient to the rule of law and court judgments, we decided to wait, because the court has restrained the house from declaring their seats vacant pending the determination of the suit. It is not about decampment. Abdurasaq Momoh decamped, he was not suspended; Festus Ebea, former deputy speaker is a member of APC as we speak and he is suspended. So, it is not about decampment, it is about misconduct which the house cannot condone. Two other members have also been suspended as a result of their illegal sitting. For issues like this, we rely on the constitution- the law of the land, we don’t politicise things. If you read Section 99 of the Constitution, it is clear that without the blessing of the Speaker, you cannot have what is called a “sitting”. When you do that, you have contravened the law and the punishment is in line with the rules of Edo State House of Assembly. What they did last Monday already contravenes that section of the constitution. The minority leadership of the House of Assembly led that group to go and destroy the gate to the entrance of the premises of the state house of assembly and further went to destroy the doors leading to the chambers, where there is on-going renovation. That is a breach of the constitution and for us, we felt that if the leadership is not clear-headed enough to know this section, they have to be suspended and that is why the minority leader and minority whip have now joined the list of suspended members. Festus Ebea and Jude Ise-Idehen have double suspension on them, because they had earlier been suspended. They committed an offence before and now they have committed another one- which is breaking and entry and illegal sitting. Unfortunately, Kingsley Ehigiamusoe claims to be a lawyer, Friday Ogierakhi claims to be a lawyer; lawyers contravening the law! I think the disciplinary committee of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) should investigate this because it is the profession that is being ridiculed. I think the NBA should look into Barrister Kingsley Ehigiamusoe and Barrister Friday Ogieriakhi’s conduct; they are actually giving the profession a bad name. There are attempts by traditional rulers to intervene, is there still hope for a political solution? The issues are in court; the Court of Appeal said exactly what some of us laymen have been saying. When these issues came up, I did my research even though I am not a lawyer. Check Part 10 (81) 2010 Nigerian Weekly Law Report, Oparaku vs Oparaku; the issues that the Court of Appeal addresses are the same and I told these so called lawyers to go and read that portion. You cannot jump from the state high court straight to the appeal court when the issues have not been heard. I am not a lawyer but I told them these things but they didn’t listen. The traditional rulers have intervened from the angle of peace and they have told us to maintain peace and as a result of that, we have refused to fight. If you observe, the APC lawmakers refused to be provoked. The Nigerian police are actually one of the front-liners in this crisis. They are the ones fuelling the crisis, because the court affirmed that these members are on suspension. Section 287 of the 1999 constitution is clear about enforcement; it is the police that are supposed to enforce. All they needed to do was radio the officers at their post in the house of assembly and tell them to enforce the court order by stopping those four members from entering; instead of blocking the gate with over 40 to 50 patrol vans and ushering in those four lawmakers. So, the police are also in breach of the court order. They were used by this same PDP to gain entrance into the chambers and also destroy our properties. The police that should be the ones protecting lives and properties are now being used to destroy properties. The question I want to ask the Nigerian police is whether breaking and entering has become legal? If breaking and entering is not legal, I am calling on the IG to arrest publicly and charge publicly those police officers that were used to destroy the gate of the house of assembly chambers that is undergoing renovation. They must be charged publicly so that the people of Edo State will know that breaking and entering is illegal. Failure to do that means the IG has legalised breaking and entering, because policemen were used to do that. Stay up to date, follow us on Twitter; @LeadershipNGA Original link Read More goo.gl/z8fqXX (y) ✍comment ☏share
Posted on: Sat, 19 Jul 2014 02:00:35 +0000
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