I am very delighted after 20yrs to return to this edifice
(which I can see has been superlatively modified) to
address you not as a member of the executive (which I was
then), but as a comrade and colleague in the legislative
arm of government.
I must say that this nostalgic feeling comes with some
wistfulness and some elation.
Wistful in the sense that this House of Assembly (HOA) at
the inception of our Fourth Republic in 1999, recorded
many negative firsts ; first to impeach a speaker in
Nigeria, first to start an impeachment of a sitting deputy Governor, first house of Assembly to be burnt down by
thugs.
Elation in the sense that it was also the House that resisted
the pressures of the executive twice and refused to
impeach the sitting deputy Governor. May I use this
opportunity to salute the patriotism and courage of the
HOA class of 1999-2003 who despite all odds, followed the
dictates of the constitution when it mattered. Some of
those patriotic members of that house accompanied me to
come to this event. I remain very grateful to them because
they suffered for my sake. My God will reward you in
ways you do not contemplate.
Let me thank you Mr Speaker, Honourable Members for
inviting me to address this august body. By giving me this
courtesy, you have given me utmost respect and I know
that it is a privilege not accorded to just anyone. I
therefore feel indebted and willing to assure my
colleagues here that whenever this assembly calls on me
that I will surely respond.
Many constitutional battles between the Executive and the
Legislature and even within the Executive were fought in
this house during the period when I served as Deputy
Governor and the judiciary was also (in line with their
mandate) called in to adjudicate on several of these
matters.
The interpretation of Section 188 and Section 189 of the
1999 Constitution (as amended), relating to the method of
impeachment of a Governor or Deputy and the constitutional requirements for doing so were canvassed
and later adjudicated by our courts.
An issue which we canvassed then relating to the propriety
of the Attorney General of a State representing the
Governor in his personal capacity was recently laid to
rest by the Supreme Court of Nigeria which held that it was
improper. This also relates to the Attorney General as a
member of the executive representing the House of
Assembly in litigation, an issue I kicked against in my
battle with the then HOA.
Suffice it to say the interpretation of our statutes by the
various courts which culminated in the landmark
judgement by the Supreme Court on Ladoja vs Oyo HOA put
paid to the events which originated from this chambers
and engulfed many states in Nigeria in those days.
We are all the better for it and the robustness of the
constitution in dealing with these matters have been fully
tested.
MANDATE
Section 120 (2), (3) (4),121 (2) and especially 128 (1) and
(2) of the Constitution gives the HOA the rights and
privilege to act as the conscience of the people in their
relationship with the executive arm of government.
In this wise one could legitimately ask this Assembly the following questions ?
1. How have you been meeting your constitutional
responsibilities to the people of ABIA State which you
swore an oath to uphold?
2. What is it that makes it look as if there is no oversight
by you in the activities of the executive in Abia?
3. If environmental sanitation seems to be failing, why
have we not heard of setting up of a public enquiry into
the workings of the Agency?
4. If roads fail after a few months of being constructed
why have we not heard of an interaction between the
relevant committees of the HOA and the Commissioner for
Works and heads of relevant agencies?
Such engagements could have been taking place but may
not have been put in the the public purview. Public
engagements have a reason to be. It makes the citizenry to
be involved in governance by such interactions. The
citizenry thus have a buy-in on the activities of their
representatives in the state as they also do for us in the
National Assembly.
Such engagements serves as feedback mechanism for the
executive to know which areas of their “contract with the
people” are failing and the officials responsible for such
failures.
Section 128 (2) (b) states succinctly that you (HOA) have an
obligation to “ expose corruption, inefficiency or waste in
the execution or administration of laws within its
legislative competence and in the disbursement or
administration of funds appropriated by it”.
Whilst my constituents will expect me to protest any
untoward acts by the Federal Government, I believe that
they do not expect me to come back to query the actions
of the Executive in the State. That would mean that the
principle of separation of powers between the HOA and
Federal Legislature would have been breached. The
constitution clearly states when we at the Federal
Legislature could take over the functions of the States
Legislature in Section 11 (4). This surely is not the case as
you are already performing your functions.
ENGAGEMENTS
Members of the National Assembly are usually accosted by
well meaning members of the public about developments
in their states and questions are all about the state of
infrastructure and quality of life in the states. The reason
being that as Tip O’Neal (Speaker, US Congress 1977-1987)
says……”All politics is local”.
They reason that we cannot be seen to trenchantly criticize
the Federal Govt while turning a blind eye to happenings
in our home states.
Nothing can be further from the truth. We do engage. We
are also concerned about happenings at home but since we
do not have the constitutional mandate to query the state
executive as you are mandated to do via a diligent
pursuit of your oversight functions, we try to persuade
behind the scenes and make our interventions private.
Maybe this may not go down well with those members of
the public who expect us to openly engage the executive
arm of the state as we do with the federal govt. We can only entreat you as our representatives at the State
level to be alive to your constitutional responsibility. Your
mandate has been clearly spelt out as I earlier pointed
out in 128 and 129 of the constitution of the Federal
Republic of Nigeria 1999 as amended.
PUTTING ABIA FIRST
Our responsibility is to our citizens who have voted us into
office. As it is said, the primary reason for government is
the welfare of our people. Where a government fails to do
so, you as a Legislature have been given the statutory
powers to call them to order as we have also been doing
at the Federal level in the interest of our people.
You only need to be courageous and fair in your oversight
engagements with other arms of government.
Thomas P. O’Neal (Speaker of the United States Congress
1977-1987 has advised us thus…”Let us forget the
frustrations of the past and think of our unfulfilled
potential” I took this advice, and today I am the Minority
Leader of the Senate.
As you discharge your constitutional mandate to the
people of ABIA State may you with wisdom put interests
of neither party nor person but interest of the people of
Abia first.
I commend our prayer in the National Assembly to you. It says;
“Almighty God, Ruler of Heaven and Earth
We beseech Thee to inspire and guide
All our Counsels and Action,
So that we may always walk in the path
Of Justice, Love and Charity to one another
Help us with thy grace to do
ONLY THOSE THINGS
That will promote the Unity, Happiness and Prosperity
Of Nigeria (in this case ABIA State)”
Amen
I thank you for listening.Being an Address delivered by the Minority leader of the Senate, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe in Plenary to the ABIA House
of Assembly on 30th October, 2019
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