At a book lunch in Lagos recently, the Speaker of Lagos state House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Sabit Adeyemi Ikuforiji, declared that the legislative arm of government was most endangered compared to the executive and judiciary. TOPE MUSOWO reports
Th e unending power tussle between the legislature and the other arms of government in Nigeria has been linked to lack of quality understanding how the arm is constitutionally built to function. Former Speaker, Lagos State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon.Sabit Adeyemi Ikuforiji, made this comment at a lunch of book held in Lagos, titled: “Th e Legislature and the Path to Democratic Consolidation” by Mr. Remi Durojaiye.
Th e astute lawmaker noted that the friction observed in the political space of the country is born out of inexperience and a clear attempt to muzzle a constitutionally empowered arm of government. “We are still very far away from the level of enlightenment required, the people that legislature is supposed to serve know very little about the roles and functions assigned by the constitution to the legislature and it is a pity that even members of the legislature too probably are not well equipped enough as at now.
“It is a question of looking at it from the angle of the nation’s history you will realize that the Nigeria legislature today is barely 17,18 years old, the executive and judiciary have been there since 1914 amalgamation, it is the legislature that is so young yet it is saddled with the responsibility of over sighting these older arms of government.
“Th e older arms have lots of experience which the legislature does not has of course, no matter what education is given experience matters a lot, but then education helps to bridge the gaps faster so we should continually educate the legislative arm so that it can catch up faster than it is doing. “A lot of the troubles that we have in the polity now is due to misinformation and not having required knowledge of the roles that the legislature were supposed to play. “On the part of even the citizenry, everyone loves to condemn, criticize and almost mow down the legislature for whatever reasons, you see today everybody still keeps trying shouting how much goes to the legislature what does this and that.
“You look at the percentage of the budget that goes to who and then you can understand some of these troubles and of course because the legislature is not even playing its role the way it should perhaps due to this lack of this adequate knowledge of the problem and we must address it for the benefi t of the nation.
Th e Imperial Majesty Oluwo of Iwo Kingdom , King AbdulRasheed Adewale Akanbi (Ilufemiloye Telugu 1), who also graced the book launch along with his queen stated the importance of waging war against corrupt tendencies in our society, stressing that it has been the bane of Nigeria, the most populous black nation. Oba AbdulRasheed who is the Deputy Chairman of Osun State Council of Obas and President Iwo Traditional Council lament the greed and avarice mentioned in the political circles, charging all Nigerians not to vote to power any politician without a well mapped strategy of fi ghting corruption.
Th e monarch commended the author of the book, stating that awareness is key in making people change their perception about anything. “Consolidation of democracy and changing people’s perception about the polity is fundamental, enlightenment act is also aff orded in the book written by Remi.
“It is targeted at taking our people out of poverty of the mind about all this myths and superstition that is bringing us back. “Th ese are the change that we need and also we need to kill corruption in Nigeria,it is the only deadly disease killing us in droves, it is genocidal we need to eradicate corruption if it doesn’t go it would kill us all and it is killing us every day.
“We need to tell our politicians, anyone who needs our votes to give us his structured agenda to fi ght corruption, we should not vote to power anyone without the agenda to fi ght corruption that is my message to Nigerians. Th e elated author also mirror his piece as a feat that gives him a knack to aspire higher. “Th e legislature is very germane in our day to day politics in that the arm has a very big role to play in our nascent democracy.
“Th is is just the beginning of my own contribution to this country and come 2019, I am going aspire for the House of Assembly, in Ijebu Igbo North constituency Ogun state as a member just watch out. “Th is is a public unveiling of the book I am still going to have a tour of all the local government in Lagos state in particular, these will start upper week Monday, from my experience we have the best legislature in this country and there is hope us”. Remi said.
Th e book reviewer, Dr. Mudashiru Suraj, Associate Professor Department of Political Sciences, did a deep critique of the book with 10 chapters, citing the need for a wider scope that will take an holistic view of the democratic structures across Africa relating the three arms and their roles. Th e chief launcher, Engineer Afolabi Lawan, former LAWMA boss, Dr. Ola Oresanya, Mr. Leland Abdul and many other dignitaries offi cially launched the book for public consumption..
