TheNewsGuru

Tag: minority leader

  • A NEW TWIST IN THE TALE: Oyo Assembly chooses Minority Leader as new Speaker

    The Oyo State House of Assembly on Tuesday chose a former Minority Leader of the House, Joshua Ojo, 67, as the new Speaker, to replace the late Michael Adeyemo, who died on April 27, 2018.

    The choice of Ojo, who is representing Orire State Constituency, was unanimous after an earlier political power play that threatened to polarise the assembly.

    Before his nomination by Joshua Oyebamiji, a member of the All Progressives Congress who is representing Akinyele State Constituency, a call for an election was challenged by Muideen Olagunju, a member of the Accord Party representing Oyo East/Oyo West. Olagunju argued that the Nigerian constitution favoured the deputy occupying the top seat in the absence of the former Speaker.

    Citing sections 90, 92, 94 and 95 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Olagunju argued that in the absence of the Speaker, the Deputy Speaker ought to automatically take over the office of the Speaker.

    He said, “The section of the constitution makes it clear that an election is unnecessary and also it is clear about the transition to the speakership in case of any absence or vacancy. The constitution clearly states that the Deputy Speaker shall vacate his office and preside over the house.”

    Supporting Olagunju’s position, another member of the house, Olusegun Olaleye, argued that the absence of a Speaker could also mean the death of a Speaker. Another member of the house, Solomon Akande, however, opposed the argument, saying that such provision did not apply to the legislative arm even if it was applicable to Presidency and governorship positions.

    But Fatai Adeshina, representing Ibadan South-East, cautioned the house, urging the members to allow for a smooth transition in honour of the late Speaker who stood for unity and peace.

    The acting Speaker for the session, Musa Abdulwasil, also urged the house not to give room for a crack in order not to fall into the hands of external forces. Although he said an election could cause a division in the house, the assembly later agreed on using an election to fill the vacuum. After Ojo was nominated by Oyebamiji, he was seconded by Gbenga Oyekola, a Labour Party member from Atiba. There was no other nomination which confirmed Ojo as the new Speaker.

    The new Speaker was elected on the platform of the LP but defected to the APC along with former governor Adebayo Alao-Akala. He had yet to formalise the defection in the house which gave him the opportunity to retain his position of Minority Leader before his nomination as the new Speaker.

  • Modu-Sheriff, PDP’s biggest mistake – Minority leader, Leo Ogor

    Modu-Sheriff, PDP’s biggest mistake – Minority leader, Leo Ogor

    The Minority Leader of the House of Representatives, Leo Ogor has said appointing Senator Ali Modu-Sheriff as the National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, was a “regrettable and major mistake” the party has ever made since inception.

    Ogor lamented that the former Borno State Governor has done more damage than good to the party.

    In an interview with The Sun, the minority leader said, “Sure. It is a major mistake that we made, a very regrettable one. Sometimes it is too late to cry when the head is off. We are already in it.

    “Bringing the person of (Ali-Modu) Sheriff into our system, I regret it immensely. It is a very regrettable mistake. We wouldn’t have found ourselves in this predicament.

    “It is sad. Because this is somebody that was driven away from the APC and because of our open mindedness, we accepted him. Unfortunately, he has come to do what he knows how to do best.

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that a Port Harcourt Appeal Court recently affirmed Sheriff as the Chairman of the party, but the Caretaker Committee under the leadership of Ahmed Makarfi took the matter to the Supreme Court.

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that the former ruling party has been involved in leadership tussle.

     

  • Lagos Assembly to obliterate Minority Leader, Whip titles

    Lagos Assembly to obliterate Minority Leader, Whip titles

    The Lagos State House of Assembly on Tuesday said that circumstances had obviated the need for the offices of Minority Leader and Minority Whip in the House.

    The Chairman, House Committee on Information, Strategy, Publicity and Security, Mr Tunde Braimoh, disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos.

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that six out of the eight lawmakers elected on the platform of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the House had, on Feb. 16, defected to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

    The defectors, including the two former holders of the offices, claimed they left the PDP because of the crisis in the party and attendant leadership tussle.

    With their defection, the PDP is left with two lawmakers – Mr Victor Akande (Ojo I) and Mr Dipo Olorunrinu (Amunwo Odofin I) – in the 40-member House.

    Braimoh said: “Now, we talk of two members in a minority in an assembly, and leadership is not just for appellation or title; it is for function, accomplishment and effect.

    “It is not something we just award, it is something that is given and we expect something in return and some performance. We expect some kind of work and service, and here we just talk about two people.

    “Now, if we have two opposition members in the 40-member Assembly and we say one is the minority leader, leading who? And at the same time, we say another is the minority whip, whipping who?

    “The offices have been extinguished because they cannot be seen to be desired, they cannot be seen to function.

    “The office will be non-effectual. The offices will not have the morality. We can’t award office just because we want people to feel important.”

    The lawmaker said that the step was not politically motivated but created by the circumstances as only two legislators were in minority and the offices were two also.

    “The offices have been obviated by circumstances in which we find ourselves; they are just two and the offices are two. It will not augur well.

    “The two members cannot be bosses over themselves; if we have that, the system has collapsed,” he said.

    Braimoh said that the Assembly made it clear when six of the eight PDP lawmakers defected to APC in February that the offices had become unnecessary.

    According to him, the 1999 Constitution guarantees only the offices of the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker, while other offices are the creation of the assembly.

    “The only offices recognised by the Constitution are those of the Speaker and Deputy Speaker; the rest are based on the whims and caprices or organisational convenience and comfort of any assembly.

    “It is not as if it is compulsory that those offices should exist; they are created by our rules, and where the rules become superfluous, they become obviated.

    “I am not saying the minority members are not important; they are, but the truth of the matter is that the offices of the minority leader and the minority whip have become obviated,” the lawmaker said.

    Mr Moshood Salvador, Lagos State Chairman of PDP, had earlier warned the house to be guided in its thinking on the matter and avoid taking a “military’’ approach.

    “ For God’s sake, two is a number and one is a number,’’ he saif soon after the defection of the PDP members, insisting that the party members would have their places as Minority Leader and Minority Whip.

    Meanwhile, information available on the site lagoshouseofassembly.gov.ng indicates: “The minority leader is not required if all honourable members are from the same party’’.

    TheNewsGuru.com recalls in the fifth Assembly in Lagos State in 2003, the only PDP member in the 40-member House, Mr Julius Ajose, who was representing Badagry II, was named the Minority Leader.

  • Rivers APC sacks assembly Minority Leader

    The All Progressives Congress in Rivers State has expelled Benibo Anabraba, the Minority Leader in the state House of Assembly, over alleged anti-party activities.

    This was contained in a copy of the expulsion letter signed by Chief Davies Ikanya, the APC Chairman in the state, and made available to journalists in Port Harcourt on Monday.

    Anabraba is the APC legislator representing Akuku-Toru Constituency 2 in the assembly.

    The letter stated that the State Working Committee of the party expelled Anabraba for allegedly failing to attend meetings to clear the allegations against him after three invitations.

    It alleged that Anabraba’s refusal to attend the proceedings on the three occasions he was invited confirmed his disrespect to constituted authority.

    It said: “The party considers your wilful and deliberate refusal to make yourself available to answer to the allegations against you as sufficient confirmation that the said allegations against you are true.

    “Therefore, the party pursuant to relevant provisions of the constitution of the APC (Oct. 2014 as amended), particularly Article 21 (A) ii, iii, hereby expels you from the party.”

    Efforts by the News Agency of Nigeria to reach Anabraba for his reaction failed as he was not in his office at the assembly and would not pick calls put through to his GSM line.