The trouble with Ekiti

After the presidential election that the APC’s Muhammadu Buhari won, the 19 members returned to Ekiti and immediately proclaimed their presence. What began in November last year as disagreement between the legislators and the governor over the screening of commissioner nominees and councils caretaker committee chairmen became a struggle for supremacy when there was no […]

After the presidential election that the APC’s Muhammadu Buhari won, the 19 members returned to Ekiti and immediately proclaimed their presence.
What began in November last year as disagreement between the legislators and the governor over the screening of commissioner nominees and councils caretaker committee chairmen became a struggle for supremacy when there was no need for it.
Fayose instigated the 7 PDP members to “impeach” the Speaker, Mr Adewale Omirin and deputy speaker, Mr Adetunji Orisalade. Clearly, this was a travesty of both the law and the rules of the legislature. The ramification of this can be gauged from the fact the all the decisions that the 7 PDP took in respect of their sitting to consider budget estimate and other pieces of legislation like dissolution and reconstitution of local councils, would ab initio be exercise in futility and open to legal challenges.
 “We are here to resume our work at the Assembly. The G-19 is intact and we have been doing our work even out of the Assembly. As the speaker, I attended the Speakers’ Forum and have been doing my work”, Mr Omirin announced on the day the 19 returned.
But he had hardly finished his address when soldiers and riot policemen, led by the Commissioner of Police, Taiwo Lakanu, stormed the premises and asked all members of staff to get out, and for the immediate closure of the chambers.  
The lawmakers protested the development, saying it amounted to illegal and arbitrary use of executive powers.  
After that, the lawmakers issued the governor an impeachment notice and urged the state Chef Judge to probe allegations of gross misconduct against the governor. They listed eight offences against Fayose and asked him to respond to them within seven days. The governor denied receiving any notice. The allegations against him include invasion of the assembly with thugs, instigating an unconstitutional takeover of the legislature by 7 legislators, preventing the 19 APC members from performing their lawful legislative duties and sponsoring an unlawful impeachment process against the leadership of the legislature.  They also accused Fayose of spending funds without requisite constitutional approval, running government without a legally constituted state executive council and operating an illegal budget. But the factional speaker, urged the Chief Judge to disregard any impeachment directive from the legislature. The crisis spilled onto the streets, with several protests across the state. One person was reportedly killed while schools and markets were shut down, bringing the economy to a standstill. Even government officials in solidarity with the government abandoned their duties and converged on the Assembly premises to prevent the lawmakers from sitting.
 The Ekiti crisis has gone on for too long; it must stop. Already, the state Assembly has lost many months which would have been used to make laws for the good governance of Ekiti State. Mr Fayose’s less than refined conduct and a manner of speaking that leaves much to be desired for a high public figure opens him up to isolation. The position he holds demands that he respects the doctrine of the separation of powers; his constant interference in the activities of the legislature is a grave assault of the Constitution he took the oath of office to protect.
All members of the current session of the Ekiti State House of Assembly must be allowed unfettered access to their chambers and offices. The conduct of soldiers and policemen in acting under a nebulous ‘order from above’ to invade the promises of the legislature and order its members is nauseating and reprehensible, and must repeat itself.
If the 7 PDP members broke the law, the rules of the legislature are there to provide a guide on what sanctions to be applied.
But there is hardly any time to bicker; between now and May 29, the legislature and the governor should set aside their political differences and work for the people of Ekiti.