Lagos Assembly, Gov Ambode crisis deepens as House fails to receive Gov for Budget presentation

The last seems not to be heard on the political crisis rocking the Lagos State House of Assembly in one hand and the State Governor in another after the October resolution of the Assembly to back down on the second term ambition of the Governor in preference for Babajide Sanwolu. Babajide Sanwolu emerged as the governorship candidate of the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) in the State thus finally put paid on the ambition of the Governor Ambode to rule the State for the second term. The 2019 budget presentation has remained a subject of controversy with the executive and the House trading accusations and counter accusations over which arm of government is playing games with the budget. Recall that the Clerk of the Assembly had earlier in January 7, announced correspondence from the State Governor containing the 2019 budget proposals dated December 17 but was received in his office by December 24 while the lawmakers had already gone on the festive break after waiting for the Governor to bring the budget which was never to be. The executive arm through the commissioner for budget, Mr. Olusegun Banjo was reported to have accused the Assembly for deliberately delaying the budget consideration for reasons best known to them. The House was to later fire back at the executive. The Speaker on the floor of the House at plenary insisted the Governor must do what is required by the law in budget presentations quitting the relevant constitutional provision that mandated the budget proposal to be laid before the House. The House of Assembly was however, thrown into a temporary confusion on Monday when information went round that Governor Ambode would be presenting the 2019 budget proposal before the House, the occasion was to be devoid of the usual funfair that usually characterized the event in the past. The advanced team of the Governor including members of the press covering the State House have already taken positions at the premises of the Assembly with full security arrangement in place while all is almost set for the Governor to breeze into the premises with the hope of presenting the budget which has been long awaited. The advanced team was to later moved out of the Assembly premises while the security operatives who have taken possession at strategic places within the Assembly premises were also withdrawing sending the signal that the presentation would no longer take place. The lawmakers were to later converge for parliamentary session which lasted for over two hours before they later assembled for the plenary which lasted about 30 minutes. The only job of the day was the passage of an amendment into the State High Court laws before the House adjourned to Monday 28 of January. Earlier, while the Governor’s advance team were still at the premises of the House, there were speculations that the Governor will not be received by the House, according to a source who pleaded not to be named, the House was said to have alleged lack of correspondence between it and the Governor over the planned presentation slated for the day, therefore, the House will not receive the Governor. The issue of 2019 budget has remain a topical issue in the State and a subject of crisis and confrontations between the House and the executive since the primary election that produced the party governorship candidate, Babajide Sanwoolu in place of the incumbent, Akinwumi Ambode where the leadership of the House was said to have played a major role in ensuring an effortless emergence of Sanwiolu as the party flag bearer. The 2019 budget remains the only budget that has suffered set back and lingered into the fiscal year before presentation before the House of Assembly in the State since the beginning of the current democratic dispensation. Alade Tasma, Lagos