Ekiti House Of ‘Dis-Assembly’: A Demonisation Of Democracy?

By Kunle Edun

Chapter 11 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, as amended explicitly states the Fundamental Objectives and Directive Principles of State Policies of the entity called Nigerian and its people. It states the essence and rationale for having a country and a government. Section 13 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, as amended provides that “It shall be the duty and responsibility of all organs of government, and all authorities and persons exercising legislative, executive or judicial powers, to conform to, observe and apply the provisions of this Chapter of this Constitution”. Section 14(2)(a) of the same Constitution provides that “Sovereignty belongs to the people of Nigeria from whom government through this Constitution derives all its powers and authority.” It is not for fun that the Constitution gives primacy to the Legislature. Section 4 of the Constitution provides for the legislative powers of the National Assembly and States’ Houses of Assembly while sections 5 and 6 of the Constitution are devoted to the Executive and Judiciary.

Military regimes are abnormal for one reason: there is no legislature. Both the executive and legislative powers are fused and reside in the Supreme Military Council or any top organ of the military junta. Therefore, the legislature becomes the first casualty whenever there is a military takeover. We have seen this played out in Nigeria whenever there was military takeover. The significance of this is that, the legislature is a symbol of democracy and popular participation in government. Sadly, recent events do not seem to justify the sacredness and importance of the legislature in a democracy.

Ekiti State House of Assembly was recently in the news for the wrong reason. The House of Assembly was purported to have impeached its Speaker, Hon. Olugboyega Aribisogan and before one could say Jack, a new Speaker was imposed. The purported impeachment has been condemned by all sane minds for lacking in vires, decency and was a violent violation of the extant Rules guiding impeachment in the House of Assembly. Respected and prominent legal practitioners including Aare Afe Babalola, SAN; Dele Adesina, SAN; Femi Falana, SAN have condemned the “military-style takeover” of the House of Assembly and asserted that Olubunmi Adelugbe, the purported new Speaker cannot legally take over. In the words of the revered SANS, “the Constitutional and democratic rascality must stop henceforth.”

Also, the Forum of Majority Leaders of State Houses of Assembly in the South West has described the purported impeachment as a “crude display of legislative lawlessness that cannot find a decent place in global best practices.” It is important to state that before the purported impeachment, the premises of the House of Assembly was shut down and put under lock and key by the State Commissioner of Police under the pretext that there was intelligence that the facility was to be attacked. How dare a Police Commissioner shut down a House of Assembly without the consent of the Speaker of the House of Assembly? How low can we go all in a bid to satisfy some gods? In sane climes, the Police Commissioner ought to have been immediately arrested and prosecuted for committing treason. Alas, nothing happened!

What is happening in Ekiti State is now the new normal. Impunity in government. Laws are ignored by law makers and law enforcers and the victims are dared to go to court, knowing very well that it may take eternity before they could get justice, considering the challenges that the Judiciary itself is facing with low manpower and inadequate funding deliberately made so by the Executive arm to deny the Judiciary its financial autonomy and independence.

The latest Governor in the country, Governor Ademola Adeleke, cried over the landmines set by his immediate predecessor in office who few days to handover appointed 20 new Permanent Secretaries. The former Governor had also few months to handover appointed more than 2000 persons into the State Civil Service and quickly conducted Local Government Council elections. Governor Adeleke has cancelled all the appointments. Can he be blamed? I don’t think so. A Court has also set aside the said local government elections. It is concerning that a Governor refused to conduct local government election but preferred to use Sole Administrators; when his tenure was coming to an end, he suddenly remembered the need to comply with the provisions of section 7(1) of the Constitution that guarantees “The system of local government by democratically elected local government councils.