Obasa’s leadership has influenced many positive changes in Lagos Assembly -Egberongbe

Hon. Mufutau Egberongbe was a two term member of the Lagos State House of Assembly. He is presently the Special Adviser to the Speaker of the House on Political Matters. Egberongbe is happy with the performance of the 8th Lagos Assembly under the leadership of Rt. Hon. Mudashiru Obasa and argues that in most areas like on the issue of private members bill, organising of town hall meetings to aggregate the views of the people of the state among others the house has been unequalled by any other House.

He also opined that the recent defection of six of the eight Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) members of the House to the All Progressives Congress (APC) is a testimony to the good work that the leadership of the House and the state is doing in this interview with PATRICK OKOHUE.

You were a member of the House for two terms and despite that you have been out of the House as a member in the last two years, you have been around as Special Adviser to the Speaker, on Political Matters, looking at both Houses what are the pluses and minuses between the two and what are those things that really makes them different?

The high point of the 8th Assembly under the present leadership of the Rt Hon Speaker is the holding of regular parliamentary sittings, parliamentary sittings is where members meet before going to plenary to iron out issues. This House holds more parliamentary than any other House before it, even while I was around, it is always an opportunity to jaw jaw on issues and knotty issues are adequately resolved and to me that is a high point as far as I am concerned for the Speaker.

This is premised on the fact that most Speakers shy away from parliamentary, this is because parliamentary is a subtle, informal meeting, there you are not even addressed as Speaker, you are addressed as chairman and there people can vent as they so wish, it only behooves on the leadership and the Speaker to explain and explain adequately too on issues that agitate their minds. That to me has been a major thing that has been assisting this administration.

Another area of major plus for the House too is that when bills come from the executive, don’t forget that bills and laws are major instrument of social change, when they do come and they do the first reading, the Speaker makes it a point of duty to make sure they have parliamentary session where the commissioner that is presenting the bill on behalf of the governor will come and explain the nitty gritty of such bill to the members.

Grey areas are identified and in some cases, some areas of that bill are jettisoned if it is not popular or does not meet the interest of the people at that point, before they come to plenary and that has been assisting the House. Another major point is the town hall meetings. The town hall meetings allow members to aggregate the challenges of their constituencies and as in the last meeting they had, all issues that were aggregated were forwarded with a motion to the executive, this ensures that the legislators are part of the formulation of the budget and the budget so compiled to meet the actual needs of the people, because it emanates from the people.

This 8th Assembly too has passed more private members bill than any other Assembly in Nigeria; I stand to be corrected, not even talking about past assemblies in Lagos State. It simply means that they are very sympathetic and very at home to the plight of Lagosians, because most of these private member bills are tailored to the immediate needs of the people, look at the Neighbourhood Watch bill, the Cancer Centre bill which is on course, the Kidnapping law, the law on Land grabbing and so many more, so I can say that assessing this Assembly by what they have done, they have done very well.

Despite all that you have said, there are still rumours that there are dissention among members and that some people are not happy with the Speaker, have you sensed anything like that?

By the nature of the House, a House with people of various backgrounds, the high and mighty, the highly cerebral and others and if you remember that the basic entry qualification to enter the House is just secondary school leaving certificate and to aggregate position in the House is always an herculean one, you will know that you will always have issues from various angles, with different perception and it is always allowed, but that will not take you away from your main mission as the leader. You will always find that, don’t forget it is one among equal, it is allowed.

Six members of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the House recently jumped ship to align with the APC, but some people are not comfortable with that development, saying it will not help in the building of a virile democracy if credible opposition is lacking, what is your view of the development?

The Speaker of the House, Rt. Hon Mudashiru Obasa is a very experienced member, he is a fourth timer, he is so acquainted with the body language and polity of the House and governance in general too. His stand point has always been where politicking stops, governance starts.

Now, these members were elected to the House to represent the people of Lagos State who are the people that voted for the entire government including the governor and the members, it behooves on him and that is what he has been doing, no segregation, no discrimination among the members, a member is a member irrespective of what party you belong to.

You will discover that during the time of the town hall meetings he provided the financial logistics for all members including the PDP members. When it was time for the governor to choose roads, members even of the PDP were made to bring roads from their constituencies which where tarred.

So, they are carried along and I guess these were some of what they saw, it is just a case of the taste of the pudding is in the eating. They saw it and believe this is a party to identify with because I believe that they are all about the development of their constituencies and for the fact that as opposition they were adequately carried along. I think the leadership style of the Speaker and the Principal Officers must be commended in this regard, because that majorly was what we saw in the massive defection of these members.

Will you say that perhaps the party leadership in the state also has a hand in all of these and what level of influence will you say the party leadership has on the House and its decisions?

You see, majorly the APC in Lagos State is institutionalised and when you have an enabling institution, all that is needed to enhance democratic practices will always thrive. What we have is an ideal situation that will allow for opportunities for others to thrive and shine. It is not much about individuals.

Like I said the House has institutionalised town hall meetings and all members irrespective of the party you belong were mobilised to go back to their constituencies to collate whatever are their problems. The governor institutionalised the issue of roads in the local governments equally, he did not say no because you don’t belong to my party you won’t get and the roads, the first and second sects have been done and they are on the third one and they have already submitted the lists. This to me is enough to say I will join this moving train, so, it is more of institutionalised than that of personality.

Recently the Senate rejected for the second time the nomination of Ibrahim Magu as EFCC chairman, but many people are saying that such decision was premeditated, despite the Senate’s position that they are acting based on the recommendations of the DSS, that they have ulterior motive, what is your impression of that action?

Well, today those who have been criticising the Senate have been vindicated, we are made to understand that the Senate President is being investigated for a car scam and that Dino Melaye one of the frontline persons in the case is having an issue of certificate forgery. I was also made to understand that there are a number of former governors in the Senate and a number of Senators who has one case or the other with the EFCC. To me I think this EFCC has never gotten it right like now under Magu and I think the last PDP administration headed by Goodluck Jonathan made a deliberate effort to cripple the EFCC, especially with the fact that they were not given adequate budgetary provision to carry out their responsibilities.

But this one, we are seeing for once, the high point of this administration that is still giving hope to the masses is that corruption is nipped in the bud, this is what is giving hope to the ordinary man on the street, it is that same institution that is giving hope to the ordinary man that is now being thwarted, all in the name of politicking.

This is not good for us as a people; it is not good for us as a nation. It must be clear that no matter the tenure that those in the Senate enjoys, they will still one day come out to be ordinary citizens and join the masses, so we should do what is right, especially now that the world has become a global village, we should not start making mocking of ourselves as if we are not capable of ruling ourselves and doing what is right. I also advise that the Senate should work seriously on its image, because the image is just being dented all over which is not so good for our people.