Posted by FROM LAWRENCE NJOKU, ENUGU on
The Conference of Speakers of the 36 states of the federation yesterday disowned the new Speaker of the Oyo State House of Assembly, saying that only constitutionally elected Speakers should be allowed to attend their meetings.
The Conference of Speakers of the 36 states of the federation yesterday disowned the new Speaker of the Oyo State House of Assembly, saying that only constitutionally elected Speakers should be allowed to attend their meetings.
The Conference vowed that it would neither give recognition to the new Speaker elected under controversial circumstances last week nor give effect to what had transpired in Oyo State.
Although both the newly elected and deposed Speakers of the Oyo State House of Assembly were absent at the meeting, the Speakers condemned the role of the Oyo State House of Assembly in the ongoing crisis that led to the impeachment of Governor Rasheed Ladoja.
In a communique after their meeting in Enugu, the Speakers said that the rule of law must be allowed to prevail in Oyo State.
On the issue of the review of the 1999 constitution, the Speakers enjoined the National Assembly to expedite the process which, in their opinion, "is rather slow" but however jointly resolved that the National Assembly must act in consonance with the views of majority of Nigerians on the issue.
The Chairman of the Conference and Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly, Rotimi Amechi explained that the only Speaker that would be allowed into the conference "is one constitutionally elected, which means that all the official process of removing a Speaker must be followed".
He added that the conference was not in a position to discuss the third term issue since it was not part of their agenda.
"People have been speculating, but this conference does not wish to join in such speculations," he said. "We will confront the issue as we meet it. That will not becloud our constitutional responsibility of amending the constitution. We will not allow anybody to blackmail us into not amending the constitution and that is why we are saying that the National assembly must speed up the constitutional amendment process and that it should be in consonance with the wishes of majority of Nigerians."
Nineteen Speakers attended the meeting while three sent representatives. Those in attendance were the Speakers of Enugu, Ebonyi, Abia, Ogun, Ondo, Lagos, Ekiti, and Osun states. Others are Delta, Bayelsa, Rivers, Kaduna, Nassarawa, Adamawa, Taraba, Benue, Niger and Bauchi.
The Speaker of the Enugu State House of Assembly, Abel Chukwu declared that the Conference would go down in history as a strong symbol of unity and solidarity in Nigeria since it appreciates and upholds the reality and beauty of our plurality. The theme of the Conference was " Consolidating Democracy in Nigeria."