Obasa

Eromosele Ebhomele

Mudashiru Obasa, Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, on Monday told residents of the state that the proposed amendment to the law setting up local government councils and their administration in the state is not a witch-hunt exercise.

Instead, the Speaker said the new bill is to put council chairmen on their toes, make them remain focused on development of their areas and conscious that they are to remain ambassadors of the parties under which umbrella they were elected.

Obasa, who initiated the bill, said this at a stakeholders’ conference held within the Assembly to enable stakeholders contribute to the bill which seeks to elongate the tenure of council chairmen from three to four years.

The bill also proposes to empower the state House of Assembly to remove any council chairman where the state governor refuses to implement the resolution of the House for such chairman to be removed after such chairman is found wanting.

Obasa allayed the fears of some of the stakeholders who pointed out that section 24 of the new bill which empowers the House to veto the governor where he refuses to carry out the resolution of the House concerning the removal of an erring chairman could clash with certain laws of the country.

“It is about the state. A law is set up for the interest of the society and progress of the people. This means it can never be stagnant.

“In so doing, we need to look at such things that have happened in the past, where we are coming from. So, whatever we do today is based on experience.

“I must tell you this afternoon, that from my years of experience, hardly have we removed up to five chairmen, but the bill is to ensure that we have efficient and effective local government where those who are elected perform to the dictates of their calling.

“Some of the people here today are former council vice chairmen and most of them have had course to report their boss to this House,” he said.

He added: “one of my brothers talked about separation of powers, but there is nothing about separation of powers in the relationship that exists between the Assembly and the local government administration..

“We are not here to witch-hunt or remove council chairmen at will. The life and death of local government is from the state parliament.

“We are preparing the ground for election as stated by the constitution. Do we want to continue with what we have been witnessing in the past? The fact that we have a past does not mean we must continue.

Like I said, we are not going to witch-hunt, but we will do what is right at every point in time. The local government is the only government really close to the grassroots and we must have laws to put in place efficiency and effectiveness.

“This law is to put the council chairmen on their toes,” he said adding that section 24 was initiated due to petitions from residents of some parts of the state concerning the activities of some council chairmen.

“We are so concerned about local governments and must ensure that they must serve the interest of our people,” he added.

A former Speaker of the House, Jokotola Pelumi, commended Speaker Obasa for coming up with the bill saying it was long overdue.

Pelumi also indicted previous sessions of the Assembly for refusing initiate and process the bill for passage even when there had been serious issues to warrant strengthening the local government system in the state for effective performances.

Giving reasons for this refusal, he said: “we have been left to believe that you don’t joke with local government administration because it is sensitive. We have allowed our sentiments to becloud our judgement. As a result, we kept postponing it. Those were the reasons we didn’t have the courage or depth of reason to go on with it.”

He suggested that the process of removing a council chairman should be initiated at the local government level at the instance of the councillors before such comes to the House. He was however told by the Majority Leader of the House, Sanai Agunbiade, that this had been effected in the bill.

Before Obasa’s clarification, Ademola Sadiq, the Legal Adviser of the All Progressives Congress, APC, noted that the House had constantly boosted its reputation and noted that Section 7 (1) of the constitution gives power to the Assembly to create the local governments and sets rules for its existence.

He noted that the APC was not opposed to the elongation of tenure for the council chairmen as it would help in saving huge funds spent on elections as well as give room for fresh thinking.

While noting that the councillors should be allowed, like other legislators, to return as many times as possible, he said the party is opposed to a situation where the lawmakers of the state legislature, an arm of government, would seek to have the power to remove people of other arms.

“The council should be allowed to remove their own. Instead, there should be new thinking on how to reinforce the powers of the council,” he said noting the existence of the principle of separation of power.

“How would you think if the National Assembly has the right to remove a governor? The party thinks the power to remove the council chairman should reside in the council.

“What we expect is a resolution recommending to the council to remove the chairman. That is part of your oversight functions.

Chairman of Conference of 57, the umbrella body of the local government councils in Lagos, Kolade Alabi, said the council chairmen were not opposed to any provisions of the bill.

Speaking further on the bill, Agunbiade said the House will not remove, but would pass resolution to the governor on any council chairman, but where upon the resolution, the governor does not communicate his interest within seven days, the House ‘may’, by two-third resolution, veto the power of the governor.

Agunbiade said the House cannot send a resolution to the councillors adding that it should rather be bottom up.