The Senate on Tuesday gave Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State one week to issue fresh proclamation after duly performing that duty on 17 June 2019.The Senate based its decision on what it described as a breach of global parliamentary practices. The apex law making body had earlier set up an Ad hoc Committee which investigated the alleged breach. The Committee had claimed that there was no adequate publicity of the date of proclamation other than that the Clerk of the House pasted notices on the Notice Board of the Assembly Complex.
However, following the Clerk’s inauguration of the House on the said date , nine members of the House were sworn in and a Speaker elected in the usual legislative manner. These are members who met the conditions for it. The business of the Edo State House of Assembly therefore commenced and were later joined by three other members, bringing the number of Lawmakers to twelve (12) out of twenty-four (24), with the other twelve members-elect opting to stay away from being inaugurated. Against this background, in some quarters there have been claims of crisis rocking the Edo State House of Assembly.
The Nigerian Observer is worried that attempts have been to twist the facts on ground in Edo State. The House of Assembly has been sitting and has continued to sit in the Assembly complex the venue designated constitutionally for the purpose of law making. We note that there is political meddlesomeness to make Edo State ungovernable. While there is perceived grievances by some political sections and actors in the state, that fact does not amount to a crisis if the situation in the law making arm in this country is anything to go by where there have been malevolent acts of lawlessness, fists throwing, scuffles over maces ( symbol of House Authority), and combative members who use weapons on one another.
This is not the prevalent situation in Edo State where the atmosphere is peaceful and the people showing full blown support for the governance and administrative approach in Edo State where retirees and workers receive their pensions and salaries by the 26th of every month. It is unsavoury misinformation and not true representation of what is being bandied about nationwide of governance activities . albeit that there is crisis in the Edo State House of Assembly which in harmony with the Executive is part of the governance process in Edo State.
Further still, the Nigerian Observer notes that it will be functus officio for the Edo State governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki to issue another proclamation notice because in the eyes of the law he has already performed that duty assigned to him in the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, section 105 as amended and no more. Section 105 subsection (3) states: ‘’ Subject to the provision of this constitution, the person elected as the Governor of a State shall have power to issue a proclamation for the holding of the first session of the House of Assembly of the State concerned immediately after his being sworn in, or for its dissolution as provided in this section.
This provision in the Constitution as regards the power of proclamation did not call for an exception or variation of the original proclamation by the Governor having duly performed that duty as required. In the case of Alhaji Abubakar Umar V. Governor of Kaduna State (1981) 2 N.C.L.R.689 the plaintiff claimed that since the Governor of Kaduna State did not issue any proclamation before the first meeting of the House, all the sessions of the House already held were illegal, laws enacted by the House were passed by an illegally constituted body, and were therefore null and void.
The Judge held that, ‘’ Where an enactment confers a power or imposes a duty, the power may be exercised, and the duty shall be performed.’’ According to him, ‘’the Constitution confers a power on the Governor and since it is a mere power, the Governor may exercise it as occasion requires. His failure to exercise it, even when the occasion requires could not be said to affect the functions of the Assembly.’’
The existence of a so called crisis which is staged managed, does not and should not confer powers on the National Assembly to interfere in the internal affairs of Edo State even as sections cited in the Constitution clearly do not expressly give out, except on conditions precedent which according to Section 11Sub section 5 ‘’For the purposes of sub section(4) of this section, a House of Assembly shall not be deemed to be unable to perform its functions so long as the House of Assembly can hold a meeting and transact business.’’
Subsection(4) of section 11 which the Senate is brandishing to take over the running of Edo State House of Assembly does not exist in Edo State. Sub section (4) 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 that 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…’’
The Nigerian Observer opines that the Senate should detract from its re -proclamation order on the Edo State Governor who has followed the constitutional provision to duly perform his duty .The Senate should advise the twelve (12) aggrieved law makers to embark on legal voyage by approaching the courts of the land to seek redress for any perceived breach of their rights. Fundamentally, the Nigerian Observer notes that there is no crisis in the Edo State House of Assembly which has been sitting and transacting House business constitutionally provided for in the 1999 Constitution. The howl of the owl is crying foul looking for a non- existent victim.
