NASS rejects court’s reversal of attempt to take over Edo Assembly

The National Assembly has expressed displeasure and subsequently rejected a court order overturning its decision to take over the Edo State House of Assembly due to unresolved crisis rocking the parliament.

The position of the National Assembly was made known by the Speaker, House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, on Monday, when the Progressives Governors Forum of the APC paid a courtesy call on the leadership of the National Assembly.

In his short remark before the meeting went into closed door, Gbajabiamila, who was speaking on the need to forge unity within the party among arms of government, expressed displeasure over inability of the party to resolve the Edo Assembly crisis.

He said: “While addressing the issue of one party and one government, myself and my big brother the Senate President will want to the draw our attention to the issue of the crisis in Bauchi and Edo states.

“Whilst we were able to successfully resolve the issue in Bauchi State, which is an opposition state, unfortunately, we are unable to resolve that of Edo State, I think this is what we have to look at and prioritise.

“We should consider how to constitutionally address the issue. For those of us on this side, the National Assembly, we are surprised that the exclusive constitutional roles given to us as prescribed in Section 12 of the constitution which is written unambiguously clear was being tested.

“We are a bit concerned about that of course; we have three arms of government and on the basis of that, we will be going to court on this matter to resolve not just the judgment but to ensure that any other related issues like that do not come up again”.

The chairman of the Progressives Governors Forum, Aminu Masari of Katsina State, said the APC governors have decided to forge national unity and development at grassroots by strengthening the relationship between the executive and legislature.

He said the governors inaugurated the PGF Legislative Programme Steering Committee to guide the process of ensuring seamless synergy of engagement between APC governors and APC representatives in both chambers of the National Assembly.

He said since there is one government, there should be a symbiotic relationship between the governors and the legislators.

At the meeting, the leadership of the Senate and House of Representatives were very appreciative of the roles that the APC governors played in the emergence of the Senate President and Speaker and other principal officers of the 9th National Assembly.

Recall that the National Assembly had threatened to take over the Edo Assembly should the state governor fail to issue a fresh proclamation for the inauguration of the Assembly.

The decision was as a result of the intractable crisis that engulfed state Assembly at the inauguration of the parliament which has split the ranks of the All Progressives Congress (APC) members of the Assembly.

But the Federal High Court in Port Harcourt in a judgment restrained the National Assembly from interfering in the affairs of Edo State House of Assembly.

Justice Kolawole Omotosho in a ruling also stated that National Assembly could not compel Governor Godwin Obaseki to issue another proclamation within the lifespan of an existing proclamation for inauguration of Edo House of Assembly.