Chairman, Edo State House of Assembly Committee on Youths, Sports and Information, Kabiru Adjoto, representing Akoko-Edo I Constituency, speaks to Special Correspondent, TITUS OISE, on the crisis in the House and other issues.
APC members and efforts to resolve Assembly crisis
Since this unfortunate crisis began, we have tried our best to make sure that all our actions are within the limits as defined by the laws of Nigeria. We have refused, not minding all pressure, to be pushed into taking laws into our hands. We have followed constitutionality all through.
We only have one functional House of Assembly under the leadership of the Speaker, Uyi Igbe. We don’t have any other Assembly. If anybody is posing as Speaker now, it is just a wishful thought.
APC lawmakers meeting outside legislative chambers
Before we left the Ring Road Office, that is the Chief Anthony Enahoro Complex, there was a publication. The rule of the House says before you can move the plenary of the Assembly to anywhere, there should be a publication. That publication is in form of public notice. It was in form of advertorial in some national newspapers, and it was pasted on the gate of the House of Assembly that we were relocating from the Anthony Enahoro Complex to the old House of Assembly chambers in Dennis Osadebay Avenue. There was enough notice, and having given that notice, we have fulfilled all the requirements. The reason given for our relocating to Dennis Osadebay Avenue is because we wanted to embark on renovation. During the crisis, policemen came to the Assembly, shot sporadically and destroyed a lot of government property. So, we gave notice that because of what happened, a lot of damages had taken place and we needed to vacate that place to give room for renovation.
The Anthony Enahoro Complex is Edo State Government property. The fact that they are sitting there doesn’t make whatever they do there legitimate because; one, none of them has been sworn in by the Clerk of the House as a substantive speaker. They don’t have a deputy speaker and the symbol of authority, which is the official mace of the Edo State House of Assembly.
Difficulty in resolving the crisis
We are not saying we should not reconcile; if you want us to reconcile, simply obey what the court has said. If the court now reverts the suspension on some of them to say “no you people wrongly suspended them”, we will obey. But some persons see themselves far above the law of the land. If we now say: okay let us reconcile because people are saying we should reconcile, to hell with court order, we are setting bad precedence. Tomorrow, the ordinary person in the society will ask, did members of the Edo State House of Assembly not disobey court order? What came out of it?
Remember, they went to High Court and the High Court gave an order, and they insulted the judge that gave that order. On their own, they appealed at the Court of Appeal, and the Court of Appeal in that interesting judgment said a contempt cannot be heard, that all of them that came were contemptuous, that they should go back and obey the court order. Have they obeyed? So, it is not our duty to now start flirting, making friends. If we do that, we have joined them to disobey the court order. So we are not saying we should not reconcile. Since the matter is in court and the court has no pronouncement, obey the court order. From there, we can start.
Allegation of the governor failing to wade into the crisis.
What is happening is purely an internal affair of the Edo State House of Assembly. The governor has no hand in the crisis and, time without number, he has tried his best to make sure that the crisis is resolved. Those pulling the hands of the clock are the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) members. The PDP as a political party wants to destabilise Edo State. And the governor has tried to resolve the crisis, but the PDP does not want the crisis to be resolved.
Recent attack on Abdulrasaq Momoh and mayhem at the legislators’ quarters
The matter is in court and it is not in our practice to comment on matters that are before a competent court of law. However, the destruction on the legislators’ quarters is most unfortunate. I was not here when the attack happened. If such incident is not checked, it’s capable of derailing our democracy because hoodlums aided by the police came in and wreaked havoc on properties and attempted to kill some honourable members. Some honourable members escaped death by the whiskers. It’s most unfortunate, and my appeal to law enforcement agents is that you don’t wait until an attack happens before you take action. There was no proactive measure to stop the attack. They said they have arrested some suspects.
Crisis denying some of you ticket in 2015 election
As a legislator, my people know me very well. They have seen my performance; I have attracted a lot of projects to communities in my constituency. I have contributed to a lot of bills that became laws, making Edo move forward today. I have participated in oversight functions that have brought about positive changes in the state. So my people are happy with me, and I am sure some of my colleagues too have tried their best. That is what makes democracy sweet. We will go back to them. They will decide, based on the prevailing reality, whether we have done well or not. That is the sweetness of democracy. If you have done well, your people will give you pass mark; if you have not, they will say you have not done well; hence you don’t deserve to go back. So, this crisis, to a very large extent, will determine whether some persons will come back to the assembly or not because some persons got the mandate of the people and they went to the black market and the mandate was sold for cash. Some people sold the mandate of the people and collected the money from PDP. Will such person go back to the people and say ‘vote for me again’? Their people will say, no if we give our mandate again you will go back to Anthony Enahoro Complex and possibly sell to PDP again. Certainly there will be setback for some lawmakers because they did not defend the mandate given to them by their people; rather they used it for selfish interest.