The Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly Rt. Hon. Mudashiru Obasa, has commended the National Assembly over its decision to investigate the crisis at the Edo and the Bauchi state Houses of Assembly.
Obasa, who is the chairman of the Conference of Speakers of State Legislatures of Nigeria, also said the organisation welcomes the recent resolve of the Senate and the House of Representatives to intervene in the squabble at the state Assemblies.
In a statement personally signed Sunday, Obasa reiterated that the speakers’ conference was not concerned about who becomes the speaker of a state Assembly but the process through which such an individual emerges must be in line with the rule of law.
According to Speaker Obasa, every legislature in Nigeria has a House rule that must be followed by members and without undue external interference.
The Speaker further noted that the Nigerian constitution stipulates how the legislative arm of government should function as well as the role of its members.
Obasa, while further stressing the stand of the speakers’ conference not to recognise any state speaker that emerges through the ‘back door’, appealed to the governor of Edo, Godwin Obaseki, and his counterpart in Bauchi, Bala Mohammed, to know their limits in relation to the other arms of government in the respective states as dictated by the constitution.
“We stand by our position not to recognise any speaker that does not emerge following the business rules of the affected House of Assembly.
“We also call on the ruling political parties in Edo and Bauchi to step into the crises in the states for democracy to thrive,” Speaker Obasa advised.
The Senate and the House of Representatives recently set up committees to investigate the crisis that have affected the effective take-off of legislative activities in the Edo state House of Assembly.
The 13-man ad-hoc committee of the House of Representatives is chaired by Abdulrazak Namdas, a member of the All Progressives Congress (APC) from Adamawa state while that of the Senate is headed by Aliyu Sabi from Niger.
