Conference Of Speakers Sets Up Reconciliatory, Fact-finding Committee To Intervene On Assemblies' Crises
The
Conference of Speakers of State Legislatures of Nigeria has set up a
reconciliatory cum fact-finding committee to intervene and amicably
resolve the crises in some state Houses of Assembly in the country.
This
was part of the decision reached at the end of the 3rd Quarter General
Meeting of the Conference which took place between 7 and 8 December,
2018 in Maiduguri, capital of Borno State.
Reading
the communique after the end of the meeting on Sunday morning, the
Chairman of the Conference and Speaker of the Lagos State House of
Assembly, Rt. Hon. Mudashiru Obasa, the Conference stated that its
intervention hinged on the need "to not only ensure amicable resolution
of the crises, but also to ensure good governance".
Rt.
Hon. Obasa stated further that the Conference also cautioned the
Judiciary especially the lower courts to exercise caution by not
interfering with constitutionally assigned roles already undertaken by
the Legislature but should wait until the conclusion of such matters.
"The
Conference regrets that Judiciary is fast becoming a clog in the
advancement of our democracy and strongly decries a wave of recent
judgments undemocratically preventing state assemblies from perforrming
their constitutionally-guaranteed functions of oversight of the
Executive arm of government relating to cases of bribery and corruption.
"We
call on the Chief Justice of Nigeria and the National Judicial Council
to check this trend before judges truncate our democracy," the
Communique added.
The Conference also called on
the Nigeria Police to be more professional in the discharge of its
constitutional responsibilities by desisting from invading and occupying
state Legislative Houses in the country. "The Conference sees the
frequent unprovoked invasions of the legislative houses by the police as
unprofessional, detrimental and runs contrary to the entrenchment of
democratic values and culture," the statement added.
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