Interview with the Majority Leader in the Ekiti State House of Assembly.
Hon. Lai Oke is the Majority Leader in the Ekiti State House of Assembly. He is also the leader of the PDP Caucus in the House of Assembly which has 13 PDP members and 12 Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) members. He bared his mind with some selected journalists in Ado-Ekiti on the ongoing crisis occassioned by the dissolution of the Local Councils in the state in this interview. Excerpts:
What is the situation of things in the Ekiti State House of assembly?
Thank you, the situation is normal, the house has not actually met
after the illegal sitting on Monday by the 12 ACN lawmakers, but now,
there is every sense of cordiality among the honourable members, the
issue has not been tabled and discussed on the floor of the assembly
as we are talking now, so, we can not say what will be the outcome the
meeting, there has not been any decision on the shameful and illegal
actions by the ACN lawmakers, but I can assure you that anytime the
house sit, that will be the first thing we are going to discuss. As
things are now, to us in the PDP, there is no caretaker, because to us
the thirteen PDP lawmakers, the democratically elected local
government officials have not been dissolved and that is what we are
going to stand on because what the law says is that the house needs
two-third majority of the members and not the house resolution, so,
there is constitutional stipulations on that particular issue and
until now,
the two-third has not met, so, how far the ACN lawmakers and its
government are illegal, null and void and can not stand the test of
time in the face of he law and that remains our position, we, in the
PDP will not and never be part of that charade because if truly they
have been preaching the rule of law and due process, then there should
be ways of doing it, even if the constitution is saying that you can
not dissolve, there is a provision in the state law that you can
dissolve based on two-third, but we also agree that such is not in
agreement with the Nigerian constitution, but even as at that, the
state laws have to be obeyed before you start to talk of the federal
laws, so, we see the moves by both the ACN lawmakers and its governor
as a Jankara kind of actions to get at the people, the actions is more
like a coup-de-tat, trying to impose yourself on the people that do
not actually want you, but to us in the PDP in the house, we still
maintain our
stands hat we are not part of the illegal action, we are apostles of
the rule of law and we are going to follow that to the latter, so, to
us the local government is still intact, if anyone except the
democratically elected council officials, they are like impostors.
What is the relationship between the legislative and the executive arm
of government in the state at present?
It has always been very cordial until recently when the self acclaimed
apostle of law starts to behave funny with his actions and
pronouncements, we have met with the governor sine he came on board
about three times and to us in the PDP, the deliberations have been
very positive, at all the meetings, we assure him that we are ready to
work with him provided he was ready to follow the rule of law based on
what our leader told us, we also told him that whatever our criticism
would be that we will not be subjective, but as objective as possible,
this is part of our agreement and we also agreed to work with the
executive, but with the latest happenings in the state, I can not
guarantee the relationship because its like the governor himself has
drawn the battle line, he has put a line of dichotomy and discord like
saying these are my people and thee are my enemies, but he should
remember that we are all Ekiti people, until now, the relationship has
been very
cordial which the governor himself can attest to, even on the heat of
the crisis, we met with him and he assured us of following the rule of
law in doing everything. It is a pith and shameful that he will sit
there as the governor who assumed office through the rule of law and
allow twelve ACN people to sit illegally and pass what should
ordinarily be passed by two-third of the entire house, its unfortunate
because they can to pretend not to know and with the resolve by the
governor to draw a line of discord, though, we have not really see
this as something that will bring a wedge between us and governor
Fayemi, it only makes us to be stronger as a PDP, focus and for us to
say to the governor that what he has done is wrong and we are going to
tell him, that is exactly what we in the PDP is going to do and not
that we will bring the government down, we are not ready to fight the
way they fought us, but it is a pointer to the fact that there is no
saint,
if Governor Segun Oni did not do all these ones, even when we in the
PDP sat by 7 in the morning, governor Oni never liked it, he even
apologized to everybody involved in the matter then, and if that act
could be condemned by the ACN chairman and everybody, we don't now
expect the same party to go ahead and do the same thing, most
importantly is the fact that we don't sit on Mondays, since the
inception of the present house, we have never sat on Mondays, let us
ask our brothers in the ACN if we have ever sat on Monday since 1999,
the day has always been for parliamentary, it shows that they have a
lot of things to hide, they are like usurper who works under all means
and disobey the constitution and to this, we know we have a legal
means to challenge them.
How would you assess the less than two moths of Gov. Fayemi in office?
Oh, it's unfortunate, for the three and half years of the former
governor Segun Oni, we have witnessed a lot of media siege on Ekiti if
Segun Oni should sneeze, the papers will say it is illegal and there
is nothing he handles that would not be condemned by this people using
the media to suppress the administration, now getting to power, we
believe that the activist would use his 'NADECO' experience to do and
put things better, but we now realize that chameleon can never change
his colour, even this present government is worse if not very than
that of his predecessor in office and you can just watch his less than
two months in office, there has been series of illegalities that has
never been experienced in the state, even in less than three weeks of
coming to power and an issue gets the attention of the National
Assembly and calling for the intervention of the Presidency shows that
there is a moral question on Governor Kayode Fayemi and to me, I
will say I have been disappointed because someone you thought would
bring all Ekiti people and everyone together is not doing that and
even instead of concentrating his energy on what were started by his
predecessor and think of how to complete them and put smiles on the
faces of the people, we were informed that he is preparing to go to
the stock market for bond in the name of Ekiti State, when his
predecessor spent over three years and never thought of borrowing and
the government was running, this government in less than three months
going to sell out the future of the state calls for concern, though we
still have it as a rumour, but I know the governor with his actions in
the last less than two months, we are waiting for that and may be he
will not need the assembly again because he has shown us that he does
not need the house of assembly for anything. Though, we heard it as a
rumour, but no one can predict this government with its antecedents in
a
short time in office, the issue of the dissolution of the local
government, swearing in and the illegal sitting of the 12 ACN members
all started like a rumour, but it all came to reality, the same thing
applied to this issue of bond, even if it is coming in the realms of
rumour, we know it is true because we read it in one of the newspapers
that his administration is looking into the consortium of going into
bond for the infrastructural development of the state, which is an
attestation to the fact that he will approach the stack market and
from what we have witnessed in the past one month, Governor Fayemi
does not need the house of assembly to pass any law for him, what he
is going to do is to just arrange the twelve, appoint a Speaker
pro-tempore and pass whatever he wanted to be passed, that's exactly
how he wants to operate, he does not need us for anything, he just
need an approval and which he can organize in the government house.
What effect is the on-going have on the state?
Thank you, but the question is does the governor himself care about
the effect on the state or what effect does the dissolution of the
councils have on the state, this is a governor that does not care,
this is a governor that want to impose himself on the people of the
state by all means and it is a pity that judicial victory is turning
to another thing in Ekiti State that pride itself the Fountain of
Knowledge, the effect will be unpalatable and the PDP lawmakers in the
state house of assembly will not support such high level of
intolerance and undue illegality, we will not and never support the
move of taking the bond without cogent reason why the bond should be
taking and if eventually that is done, that means the PDP will finally
draw a battle line with his government, the worst they could do is
also to use their usual twelve to sit at the government house the way
they did, even the facts at our disposal revealed to us that they were
not twelve, but
that only eight of them sat and that they did not even do anything,
but only entered the floor of the house and came out, so, any video
you are seen is just a make shift, came to the assembly with the
security of the government house and particularly the head of the
private security to the governor, coerce all the assembly staff
including the clerk was waylaid by the ACN honourable members even
when the house has adjourned sine die which could only be called off
by Mr. Speaker alone, it is only unfortunate that the whole things has
been perfected and released to the media, one thing is now clear to us
the PDP honourable members that the governor does not need us again
for anything, but history will judge right or said in the future that
there was a governor in Ekiti State that bye passes the house of
assembly to do whatever he wants to do, the commissioners, budget and
any other issues that requires the assembly who knows, he does not
need the house of
assembly to pass anything for his government , this is a slap on
democracy and the constitution that creates the separation of power,
he has turned himself to a civilian dictator, he can always use twelve
to achieve his aims and objectives, but he should also be reminded
that there was a governor who always obey and respect the house of
assembly and that person was the former governor Olusegun Adebayo Oni,
anytime he sends a bill and was not enjoying the support of the ACN,
we know how to pet and appeal to them to ensure that the bills scale
through, while there are other some that they did not support and the
former governor never created any room for crisis or bye pass the
lawmakers for any reason. Also, during the Segun Oni time in office,
he never applied for bond and I never heard he was planning to apply
for one, I read recently that he said we should go to court, which
court if I may ask, there is a court pronouncement that the government
did not
obey, are you sure this government of the day will now obey any court
instruction, do they even believe in any court system, I learnt this
case is even before a court which the house is not even suppose to
deliberate upon, it's a contempt of court, this case in court will
come up on December Ist and they went ahead to go and do something
against the pronouncement of the court and these are the people that
will be asking you to respect the rule of law, although, it is only
when it favours them that they tell you to respect the rule of law,
but if it did not favour them, they don't respect the rule of law.
What therefore is the situation in the house now?
Like I said, the situation is normal, we the PDP members pretended as
if nothing has happened, though am not saying because Mr. Speaker is
not around, but we went to meet with Mr. President to solicit for one
of the newly approved Federal Universities for the state, we went on
behalf of the people we represent and we met with him and thank God
that we succeeded, its not that Mr. Speaker was incapacitated, sick or
absconded and nobody has declared him wanted or missing, so, on what
basis will a group of eight now gang up to go and sit and appoint a
Speaker pro-tempore, it is shameful that people that called themselves
honorable members and an apostle of the rule of law could do that on
Monday that we don't even sit, more so, when we had adjourned sine die
and the only person who can call for the sitting of the house is the
speaker, it became more worrisome that the lawmaker that moved that
motion on that we need to adjourn sine die was Hon. Funminiyi
Afuye, so, I don't know why they want to stab the constitution on the
head, they can do it because they believe they are in power and
because they are ACN, because PDP can not do it, was there an urgent
issues that warrant such sitting that is calamitous or was there an
outbreak of epidemics, there was nothing that warrant urgent sitting
of the legislative arm on that day, so, we view it that they have
never sat, because they want to appoint caretaker, what is the
importance of the caretaker to the people that is constitutional to
warrant urgent sitting on the day we don't usually sit, there was no
order paper, no record, but when we resume these are what we are going
to resolve whenever we sit. They are now telling us that twelve can
appoint, but two third can impeach, what is the basis, when it was not
that the house was boycotted, I can assure you that it will not go
unchallenged, as I am talking to you now, the lives of the 13 PDP
lawmakers is
not safe and we are object of attack, like what happened in the
assembly the day we scheduled to sit, we were surrounded by thugs,
even the security that were there, we can not trust them because we
don't know who put them there, we are sure that there was no crisis to
warrant Mr. Speaker to call for security, even if he will do it, he
will inform us, but these stern looking people most of them we have
never seen before, we don't know who ordered for them to come to the
assembly, if we attempt to sit that day, its either most of us the PDP
lawmakers will go back home handicapped or battered, most of them were
not even uniformed police, the PDP people have to run for our safety,
as we are now, most of us are in hiding for the fear of attack because
presently in Ekiti, our lives is not safe, this government as we have
observed is a government of do it by force, but we will not stop
talking, the PDP that we know, that we are don't believe in the Pull
Him Down syndrome, we will continue to support the present government
as long as it does not continue with the illegalities and reverse the
illegal actions and pronouncements committed earlier, which we believe
were done in error, then he will have a smooth tenure, but as long as
it continue with its present terror-like system, then we are also
ready for the government.
End.