Governor Ibikunle Amosun

Onwuka Nzeshi and Sheriff Balogun

Crises in the Ogun State House of Assembly were Wednesday amicably resolved following the intervention of the state governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun.

At the meeting to resolve the crisis, the 26 members of the assembly were advised to sheath their swords and allow peace prevail.

The peace meeting, which was attended by the 26 members of the assembly, was said to have put to rest the crises, which erupted at the assembly on Tuesday, where some members were suspended.

Briefing journalists after the meeting, Hon. Remi Hassan, said what transpired at the floor of the assembly was contrary to what the citizens of the state expected and, therefore, apologised on behalf of his colleagues.
“We are sorry because if this is the state where late sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, hailed from and he ran the best of parliament back then in the 60s and 70s, it should not be such a State that would be an example of what is repugnant to acceptable norms in the legislature,” Hassan said.

He described the assembly as one big happy family, noting that henceforth, the proceedings of the assembly would be conducted peacefully and in the way it was supposed to be done in a normal legislature with due process, rules and constitution and with acceptable conventions

Also speaking, the Speaker, Hon. Suraj Adekumbi, said the crisis was unfortunate, but emphasised that with the meeting convened by the governor, peace had eventually prevailed.

“By the grace of God, as from today you will see us doing our legislative responsibility in accordance with the extant laws. Sincerely we want to use this medium to apologize to the good people of Ogun State for what transpired at the chamber yesterday,” Adekumbi requested.

On his part, Amosun said a state that produced many giants like Awolowo, former President Olusegun Obasanjo, Prof. Wole Soyinka, should not allow such a regrettable crisis to linger on unnecessarily.

While apologising to the people of the state over the unfortunate incident, Amosun described the resolution and truce reached among the Assembly members as a perfect birthday gift to Awolowo, who would have clocked 104 years today if he were to be alive.

After the, the 26 lawmakers proceeded to the legislative chamber of the Assembly for the plenary session.

Meanwhile, the resolution of the impasse coincided with the move by the House of Representatives to wade into the crisis.
The House had urged the Inspector General of Police (IG), Mr. Mohammed Abubakar, to ensure the maintenance of law and order in the assembly.

The resolution to intervene in the crisis followed a motion of urgent public importance sponsored by Hon. Ossai Ossai (PDP/ Delta), who urged the House to take more than a casual interest in recent developments at the assembly.

In the lead debate, Ossai disclosed that a crisis had engulfed the assembly since last Thursday, culminating in a commotion that led to the destruction of the mace, suspensions, counter suspensions and the purported sacking of the leadership of the state parliament.

He recalled that the sad development was a re-enactment of the crisis that plagued the same parliament in the Sixth Assembly during which proceedings were stalled for about 15 months.

“Last year, there was a similar occurrence at the Kogi State House of Assembly in which the House of Representatives in exercise of its constitutional mandate had cause to intervene and restore order. The combined effect of item 68 of the Exclusive Legislative List and Section 11(4) of the Constitution desires the National Assembly to take all necessary pre-emptive steps towards preventing the inability of a state House of Assembly from performing its functions under the Constitution. The present situation in Ogun State House of Assembly to rise to duty,” Ossai said.

The motion received the support of some lawmakers including Hon. Kingsley Chinda(PDP/Rivers), Hon Patrick Ikhariale (PDP/Edo), Hon. Friday Itulah (PDP/Edo) as well as Hon. Leo Ogor (PDP/Delta).
In spite of this measure of support, a number of lawmakers picked holes in the motion and urged the House to throw it out.

In separate contributions, Hon. Kamil Akinlabi(ACN/Oyo), Hon. Samson Osagie (ACN/Edo) and Hon. Sadiq Asemo (PDP/Kogi), Hon. Okey Jev (ACN/Benue), Hon. Bitrus Kaze (PDP/Plateau) and Hon. Asita Honourable (PDP/Rivers) launched attacks against the motion. They called for caution and restraint, arguing that the intervention was premature.

The argued that the situation at Assembly had not reached the level where the House should intervene.

They said rather than wading into the crisis, the warring parties should be allowed to resolve their differences without any outside interferences.
They described the prayers of the motion as lame and unnecessary, insisting that there was no need to call on the Police to do its lawful duty of maintaining law and order.

However, when the motion was put to vote, those in support of its passage had an upper hand.





http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/peace-returns-to-ogun-assembly-as-amosun-intervenes/141455/