Following the recent defection of six of the eight PDP lawmakers in the Lagos state House of Assembly to the ruling APC, the seats of minority leader and minority whip became vacant and left the legislative structure as well as business skewed. TOPE MUSOWO writes of the implications on legislatives business.
Until February16, when six of the eight Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), legislators, in the Lagos state House of Assembly, defected to APC, the seats of minority leader and minority whip were occupied by Hon Akeem Bello and Hon Mosunmola Sangodara respectively.
The defectors said they left the PDP because of the crisis in the party and attendant leadership tussle.
With their defection, the PDP is left with two lawmakers – Victor Akande (Ojo I) and Dipo Olorunrinu (Amunwo Odofin I) – in the 40-member House.
However, it would be recalled that in the fifth Assembly of the Lagos State House in 2003, the only PDP member in the 40-member House, Julius Ajose, who was representing Badagry II, was named the Minority Leader.
It is becoming clearer by day that the Lagos 8th Assembly may go down in history as a House where the minority members may not have a leader.
With this development, the state chairman of the PDP in Lagos, Hon Moshood Elsavador, who felt their party is being short changed, said the PDP was making efforts to reverse the situation.
While briefing journalists last week, at the party Secretariat in preparation for the coming LG election in Lagos, he said that,” For your information, I have written a letter to the Clark of the House, and copy the Speaker, to make Olorunrinu Minoritity Leader and Victor, Minority Whip, I will give them some time for them to make the announcement on the floor of the House, after that I will know what to do”.
When asked if he was aware of the House’s rule that you are not qualified to be a principal officer if you are not a ranking member, he responded, “was Bello a second timer, he was not a second timer but they made him minority leader, that means they are working against their rule ab initio, they can’t stop Olorunrinu from becoming minority leader because the precedence is there”, maintained the chairman.
Meanwhile, Hon Olusegun Olulade, APC lawmaker representing Epe constituency who raised the issue of no minority leader in the chamber during the defection drama has this to say; “Well, we had the forty of us being from the same party in the seventh Assembly, we didn’t have majority leader what we had was the leader of the House, there are rules here, if you are not a ranking member you cannot be a principal officer according to our House rules”.
“For the fact that it was done in the past does not make it right,we have a rule that says you must be a ranking member for you to be a principal officer in the House, who will the minority leader be leading or the minority whip be ‘whipping’? I will personally champion that cause, you can’t be a minority leader without leading anybody”,Olulade affirmed.
To Hon Akande, “one of the two members left in the opposition PDP ,it is not a do or die affair”.
“I am here not because I want to become a minority leader or minority whip, I am here to represent my people, I am the voice of the people, and that is my primary assignment here, being a minority leader is an added advantage, which might come and which might not come ,but my primary aim here is to become the voice of the people of Ojo constituency 1, and that nobody can take away from me” Akande said.
But responding to the development, on Tuesday, the House said that circumstances had removed the need for the offices of Minority Leader and Minority Whip in the House.
Blueprint learnt that the Chairman, House Committee on Information, Strategy, Publicity and Security, Tunde Braimoh, disclosed this in an interview with the media.
Mr. Braimoh said: “Now, we talk of two members in a minority in an assembly, and leadership is not just for appellation or title; it is for function, accomplishment and effect.
“It is not something we just award, it is something that is given and we expect something in return and some performance. We expect some kind of work and service, and here we just talk about two people.
“Now, if we have two opposition members in the 40-member Assembly and we say one is the minority leader, leading who? And at the same time, we say another is the minority whip, whipping who?
“The offices have been extinguished because they cannot be seen to be desired, they cannot be seen to function.
“The office will be non-effectual. The offices will not have the morality. We can’t award office just because we want people to feel important.”
The lawmaker said that the step was not politically motivated but created by the circumstances as only two legislators were in minority and the offices were two also.
“The offices have been obviated by circumstances in which we find ourselves; they are just two and the offices are two. It will not augur well.
“The two members cannot be bosses over themselves; if we have that, the system has collapsed,” he said.
Mr. Braimoh said that the Assembly made it clear when six of the eight PDP lawmakers defected to APC in February that the offices had become unnecessary.
According to him, the 1999 Constitution guarantees only the offices of the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker, while other offices are the creation of the assembly.
“The only offices recognised by the Constitution are those of the Speaker and Deputy Speaker; the rest are based on the whims and caprices or organisational convenience and comfort of any assembly.
“It is not as if it is compulsory that those offices should exist; they are created by our rules, and where the rules become superfluous, they become obviated.
“I am not saying the minority members are not important; they are, but the truth of the matter is that the offices of the minority leader and the minority whip have become obviated,” the lawmaker said.
Now, if we have two opposition members in the 40-member Assembly and we say one is the minority leader, leading who? And at the same time, we say another is the minority whip, whipping who?
