Assets C’ttee cannot audit the Auditor-General- EDHA
By THOMPSON ERHOMONSELE


BENIN CITY – Edo State House of Assembly yesterday in Benin City declared that the State Assets Verification Committee has no authority to audit the Audit-General, adding that it is the constitutional responsibility of the state Legislature.


Announcing it during plenary, the Speaker, Rt. Hon. Zakawanu Garuba said the Executive arm of government should not carry out the duty of the Legislative Arm, explaining that such act had led to avoidable unprovoked litigation which the state House of Assembly was being compelled to spend its scarce resources on, citing the case of Edo State Oil and Gas Producing Areas Development Commission (EDSOGPADEC) and Edo State Independent Electoral Commission as examples. He pointed out that such bodies were supposed to be independent, and should not be subjected to scrutiny by the Executive arm.


Meanwhile, the State House of Assembly has passed a resolution ordering the re-instatement of Prof. Patrick Ehi Osho as a member of Edo State Judicial Service Commission with all his entitlement, privileges, allowances and obligations.


The Parliament also resolved that the letter that ordered the termination of his appointment written from the office to the Secretary to the State Government be set aside. The Speaker directed that clean copies be sent to the governor, chairmen of both Edo State Judicial Commission and National Judicial Council.

The resolution of the State House of Assembly flowed from the amended resolutions in the report of its standing committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters on a petition titled “Illegal and Unconstitutional Removal from office as a member of Edo State Judicial Service Commission” dated January 28, 2009, presented by the Chairman of the Committee, Hon. Kingsley Ehigiamusor.


Similarly, the House struck out a petition titled Removal of Hon. Ofure Osa-Uwaigie as Deputy Leader of Oredo Local Government Area Legislative Arm”, dated February 6, 2009.


During plenary, the House gave the Bill on the Edo State Youth Employment Scheme (Edo Yes) Agency and for matters connected therewith H.A. 21, 2009, its first reading after which the Speaker, Rt. Hon. Garuba directed that steps should be taken to list it for the second reading.



http://nigerianobservernews.com/04032009/news/news4.html

DISQUIET IN EDO ASSEMBLY: Oshiomhole’s style draws lawmakers’ ire
Written by Simon Ebegbulem
Wednesday, 14 January 2009












IT is very obvious that a crisis is brewing between Governor Adams Oshiomhole and the Edo State House of Assembly over alleged refusal of the state government to recall the sacked 75 workers of the state owned Edo City Transport Service (ECTS). Besides, the House is also not happy over what it described as some unilateral decisions that have been taken so far by the governor since he assumed office, following the Appeal Court Judgment that sacked the former governor, Oserhiemen Osunbor of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Among the 24 members of the House of Assembly, PDP has the majority of 16 while the Action Congress (AC) has 8, though the state government, headed by the Action Congress/Labour Party alliance, is hoping that about eight cases still pending in the court will go in their favour.


Gov. OshiomholeThe strength of the PDP in the state now lies on its majority in the House and the 18 Local Government Councils and, following the on-going reconciliation moves, Vanguard learnt that they have agreed to close ranks to fight for their survival in the state.

But, as it seems, the AC law makers are the ones that may give the governor his first shocker in governance. One of his actions, which the law makers frowned at, was the dissolution of the Edo State Oil and Gas Development Areas Commission (EDOSOPADEC) which is a statutory appointment.

Secondly is the alleged deduction of 10 per cent from the monthly allocation of the 18 Local Government Councils by the state government.

Though the state government had already stated that the local governments would contribute to the payment of the 10,000 workers expected to be employed, but the lawmakers, Vanguard learnt, are saying that the deduction, no matter the intention, must be backed by a resolution of the House. Therefore, as it is now, it appears illegal.

Then the issue of the Permanent Secretaries who were appointed by the former administration that were allegedly demoted by the state government. Though majority of them have been recalled, but the lawmakers felt slighted because they were not consulted before their demotion.

It would be recalled that the issue of the sacked 95 workers of the Edo City Transport was seriously debated on the floor of the House prior to the Christmas break. The House Minority Leader, Mr Paul Ohonbanmu, condemned the sack of the workers and called for thier immediate recall.

The House subsequently passed a resolution calling on the governor to recall the sacked workers. Their sack followed a circular signed by the Secretary to the State Government, Mr Pally Iriase, directing the General Manager of the ECTS to sack the workers since the administration that employed them has been declared illegal by the Appeal Court. That same circular also dissolved the State Oil and Gas Commission but its members had gone to court to challenge the dissolution.

Ohanbanmu, who was furious about the decision of the state government, which seems like a contradiction of the promise by Governor Oshiomhole to employ 10,000 workers so as to reduce the 'alarming' unemployment level in the state, stated on the floor of the House that “yes, we are aware that the Appeal Court declared Osunbor’s administration as illegal, but it does not mean that all the actions he took were illegal.

If that is so, this House came into being due to the proclamation of the former governor, are we now saying that this House stands dissolved? Osunbor’s administration was illegal but his actions are not illegal and that is why we condemn the sack of the 95 workers.”

After the heated debate in the House that fateful day and the subsequent resolution calling on the state government to recall the sacked workers, the brewing crisis deepened when the governor summoned the House leadership, led by Speaker Zakawanu Garuba, to the Government House so as to resolve issues involved.

But, surprisingly, Vanguard observed that the Speaker and other leaders of the House were embroiled in a serious argument with the personal staff of the governor and they stormed out of the Government House shortly after the incident. It was later learnt that the Speaker and others were kept waiting for several minutes with out seeing the governor, they apparently ran out of patience and decided to leave.

A driver to one of the House leadership told Vanguard that “this is always the situation each time oga comes here to see the governor. When Osunbor was here, he would not allow the Speaker or any of the House leadership to spend a minute waiting for him, but since this governor came in, we wait for over 30 minutes before my oga will see him.”

When Vanguard confronted the Speaker on the issue, he declined comment, rather, he decided to address the issue of the sacked workers. “If you look at majority of the people that were sacked by the governor, 70 per cent of them were employed over 20 years ago, you can say that only 30 per cent of them or even less were employed during the administration of Osunbor, so what are we talking about?

“The person who wrote the petition which we've now dealt with, has worked for over 25 years so will you now come to say that he was employed by an illegal government or that it was one of the god fathers that employed him? We have passed a resolution calling on the governor to recall the sacked workers because that decision was unjustifiable and we expect him to execute the House’s resolution.”

When he was reminded that the governor had insisted that the sacked workers remained sacked, Speaker Zakawanu reiterated that “We have sent him a copy of the resolution and on that resolution we stand. Whatever he must have said has not been communicated to the House and that is the situation for now.”

One of the law makers, who craved anonymity, lamented that “since the governor came in, he has not consulted the House when taking some major decisions as if we are not representatives of our people. You press people are also part of the problem. We noticed that when Osunbor was there, you people criticized him a lot but what is happening now? Are you people not seeing that there is lawlessness in the state. Did you remember the day we called on the governor to give us a blue print on how he intends to develop the state? We did that because we discovered that nothing is happening.

“He is yet to submit the list of his Commissioners up till now, yet, you people are not asking why. Because of that, we sat till 24th of December, yet, we did not receive the list. He promised to employ, at least, 5,000 workers before December, he has not employed one and we are in January. As representatives of the people, we have the right to comment.

“The reason why the House is even calm now is because if we start pointing out his sins, they will say we are fighting him because PDP dominates the House or he refused to give us money. Every body knows that this is a propagandist government. But one thing I will tell you is that we will not be intimidated and we must stress that the right thing should be done”.

Surprisingly, apart from the battle with the state House of Assembly, the governor is still at logger head with members of his constituency, the organized Labour, in Edo State. Shortly after the House’s resolution that the sacked 95 workers of the ECTS be recalled, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), the Trade Union Congress (TUC) and the Joint Negotiating Council (JNC), after an emergency meeting, condemned the action of the state government and backed the resolution of the House of Assembly, which called for the recall of the sacked workers.

In a communiqué signed by the leadership of the unions, it also expressed shock over the demotion of the Permanent Secretaries and the subsequent appointment of new ones and urged the House to ensure their recall.

The communiqué appealed to the governor to “revisit the decision with a view to regularizing their appointments and re-instating them. And we thank the lawmakers for taking a solid step on the matter.” It further reminded the governor of “his campaign promise of paying workers of the state a living wage comparable with the Federal Government workers. And we appeal to you to also implement the new teacher’s salary structure. We appeal to government not to also witch hunt those worker who refused to be members of their political parties.”

While commending the governor on his moves to create jobs for the youths of the state, the communiqué also frowned at the deduction of 10 per cent from the allocation of the Local Government Councils without the approval of the House of Assembly.

On the ban on the collection of illegal levies by the state government, it commended the action but, urged the state government to define revenues that could be collected by the Councils and that of the state, saying that the blanket ban is taking a negative toll on the finances of the Councils which, according to it, is unhealthy.

Vanguard further learnt that the leadership of organized labour is not happy with the governor because of the alleged bashing from him that they are stooges of the past administration.

Apart from the Organized Labour, Oshiomhole will also have to face the larger PDP in the state. The general believe is that what will make or mar the AC in the state is appointments. And, already, there are three factions in the party today.

The Igbinedion led faction, the faction led by Pastor Ize-Iyamu, former Secretary to the State Government under Lucky Igbinedion, and the Governor Oshiomohle/Labour Party faction.

A chieftain of the party told Vanguard that “Osunbor was the problem of the PDP but now he is gone. We are watching and bringing our real members back to the party. We are not afraid whether we will bounce back because we know we will. The governor is already hobnobbing with Igbinedion.

“You can see that he has announced Igbinedion’s in-law as the Deputy Chief of Staff. Does that not tell you that something is happening in this state? The same old people are back but we will fight them, no matter what it takes. You will agree with me that if not for the fact that Osunbor messed up the party, he would have been a hero today. But we are watching”.

These are the challenges Governor Oshiomhole would face this new year. But it would be difficult for the opponents to have an upper hand if he performs.


http://www.vanguardngr.com/content/view/26206/48/

Leave him alone. He is the Golden Boy. And he is still better than his predeccesors

some people don't want their state to progress.