http://www.compassnews.net/news/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=21475:blood-oath-scandal-ogun-lawmaker-gives-alausa-48-hr-ultimatum&catid=43:news&Itemid=63ＲＥ－Blood oath scandal: Ogun lawmaker gives Alausa 48-hr ultimatum
Thursday, 02 July 2009 00:00
Femi Shodunke (Deputy News Editor), Peter Fowoyo & Sola Adeyemo, IbadanTHE embattled Ogun State lawmaker, Wale Alausa, has only 48 hours to retract a statement in which he indicted other lawmakers in the state of, taking blood oath.
One of his colleagues in the House of Assembly, Mr. Omosanya Solaja, who gave the ultimatum yesterday, said should Alausa refuse to retract the statement, he would sue him for libel.
Alausa had confirmed his involvement in a blood oath as exclusively published by the Nigerian Compass on Monday.
In defending his action, he said all elected officials of Ogun State, including members of the House, swore on oath as a condition for their tickets ahead of the 2007 elections.
But Solaja warned him yesterday, saying that the statement, aimed at tarnishing his and others’ image, should be withdrawn within 48 hours.
Alausa represents Ijebu-Ode State Constituency in the House.
Solaja, a member of G11, who was illegally suspended along with the former Speaker, Titi Shodunke-Oseni, by the Tunji Egbetokun-led G15 in the House, said there was no iota of truth in Alausa’s allegation and vowed to clear his name through legal means.
The lawmaker, who represents Ikenne State Constituency, said Alausa had damaged his reputation built over the years, and that he has been in pain over the barrage of inquiries directed at him from family members, relations, friends and political associates since the scandal was reported.
Also yesterday, Alausa’s father, Chief Agboola Alausa, denied the involvement of the revered Awujale and paramount ruler of Ijebuland, Oba Sikiru Kayode Adetona, earlier fingered by the lawmaker, in the oath-taking scandal.
Oba Adetona had, on Tuesday, denied any knowledge of the scandal where Alausa was photographed naked, swearing on oath in an Ijebu-Igbo shrine.
Alausa had claimed that Oba Adetona prevailed on his father, who is the Otun Balogun of Ijebuland, to take the oath in the Sagamu home of Governor Gbenga Daniel.
Solaja, in an interview with the Nigerian Compass, said since Alausa’s allegation, he had been faced with embarrassment from the people of his constituency and the Methodist Church (Nigeria), where he is a Lay Preacher since 1976.
Said Solaja: “My people in Ikenne State Constituency are really embarrassed; they have been on my neck since the scandal broke. But I have assured them that I will pursue the matter to ensure that Alausa is brought to book.
“Also in my church, I have been under pressure. For instance, my presbyter has taken it (oath-taking) up with me and I have told him that steps shall be taken to clear my name. At no time did I get involved in oath-taking as claimed by Alausa.”
“I am a Lay Preacher in the Methodist Church since 1976 and I am a barrister of 30 years experience at the Bar. So, the allegation made by Alausa is very damaging against my character. I am giving him 48 hours to retract the statement, failing which I will initiate a libel suit against him for character assassination.
“I am taking this step because I never subscribed to any oath and there was no need for me to do that. That (oath) is not correct, it is unfortunate. They said I have been suspended and I have been on my own since and that is why I am suing him on my own and I am expecting my fellow members in G11 to do the same.
“They need to clear their names to prove that none of them was involved in the oath-taking as claimed by Alausa, as doing so will clear their names of this fetish act.”
Besides exonerating the Awujale of any blames, the lawmaker’s father in a statement yesterday blamed the media for misquoting his son at a press conference he (lawmaker) addressed in Lagos on Tuesday in which he spoke extensively of Oba Adetona’s involvement in the oath-taking.
The statement said: “I am surprised by the report in the press that the Awujale asked me to prevail on my son (Wale) to swear to an oath and that the Kabiyesi was present during the oath-taking.
“My son never said such a thing to the press. It is totally false and reckless.”
But the lawmaker ran his statement as advertorial in many newspapers yesterday during which he confirmed all he said at the press conference, as reported by the media.
Meanwhile, barely 78 hours after the story and photographs were published, the life of the man, who supplied the items, is now in danger.
It was learnt that a meeting was held in a popular hotel on Allen Avenue, Ikeja, Lagos, where a popular politician from Ijebu-Ode was fingered as the suppliers of the oath-taking photographs.
Present at the meeting were some of the principal players in the Assembly crisis and a popular Isolo, Lagos-based fuji musician, who is close to the Action Congress (AC).
The source said the hotel is the second home of the musician as “he practically lives there.”
The meeting was held for about four hours before they moved to a location in Magodo, Lagos.
It was at the Magodo meeting that the decision was taken that the Ijebu-Ode politician “must be dropped” (assassinated) for giving the Nigerian Compass the photographs.
It was further learnt that the politician was tipped off by one of the aides of the musician, who told him pointedly: “Your life is in danger.”
It is believed that some of the G15 members had also called the politician to threaten him.
Reacting to the scandal, a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Oyo State, Dr. Dejo Raimi, appealed to the G15 lawmakers to sheath their swords.
He told them to allow the developmental plans of the governor.
Raimi, also a member of the Yoruba Council of Elders (YCE), expressed disgust at the revelations from the camp of the feuding lawmakers over the blood oath.
The former secretary to the Oyo State Government said it was apparent that there was something “diabolical, spiritual and maybe monetary behind the crisis, if all the interventions from traditional rulers, elders committee and even the PDP at state and national levels could not save the situation.”
He added: “More astonishing was the move to cripple developmental projects in Ogun through their so-called Resolution 167, seeking to stop bond from the open market. Since about three months that the crisis has been going on, I don’t think they have passed any law which should be for the benefits of the people of the state.
“So, I am appealing to them to allow peace to reign. We cannot continue to watch while a part of Yorubaland is being set on fire.”
According to him, it was alleged that the G15 lawmakers might have been involved in some bank loans which they wanted the governor to offset on their behalf, but which he declined.
Raimi stated that even if any monetary issue was involved, the warring lawmakers and the governor could find a better way out, rather than degrading the Yoruba race through fetish means.
His words: “If truly they borrowed money from banks and they wanted Gbenga Daniel to help them, they could have approached him, and maybe he might be deducting it from their monthly pay or any other means, instead of taking it to the ridiculous extent of the type of pictures we saw in Nigerian Compass.
“As for the YCE, one of our most respected Yoruba governors is Gbenga Daniel, so we cannot leave him alone while his state is burning. After all, none of the two groups has the required number of lawmakers to impeach the governor. So, why don’t they jaw-jaw and allow peace to reign?”
Yesterday, Lagos lawyer and human rights activist, Bamidele Aturu, condemned the Resolution 167 by the Assembly barring the state government from raising the N50 billion development bond.
He described it as “reckless, illegal, null and void and of no effect whatsoever.”
Declaring that the lawmakers have no such powers, Aturu said: “The House of Assembly in purporting to pass such a resolution has clearly gone beyond its own jurisdiction. It has exceeded its power. What it has done is ultra vires, because the House of Assembly of Ogun State is created by the constitution, and it follows that anything that it wants to do, it must be able to find a justification or a warrant in that constitution.
“Specifically, the House of Assembly of Ogun State, like any other House of Assembly, is created by Section 90 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. And that section defines the powers of the House of Assembly to make laws for the good order and stability of Ogun State.
“Now, Section 100 of the constitution regulates the mood by which the House of Assembly of Ogun State, or any state in Nigeria for that matter, can pass laws. This is through bills. All these bills are passed, the governor assents to them (bills), then they become laws for the state.
“Now, there is another power that is given to the House of Assembly. That power is to be found in Sections 128 and 129 of the constitution. It is the power that relates to what I call the investigative jurisdiction of the House of Assembly, and it is a limited jurisdiction because the constitution makes it clear that the House of Assembly cannot exceed the power conferred on it under that section. It is for them to make a law and to also expose waste or corruption. So, apart from making laws; apart from doing a public investigation for the purpose of making laws or for exposing corruption, the House of Assembly of Ogun State or any state has no other power over the public fund of any state and of Ogun State in particular.
“That is why I am shocked that the House of Assembly is going beyond its constitutional power.
“They may claim that they have a right under Section 125 of the constitution regarding the public account of a state. It is the Auditor-General of the state that can audit the public account of Ogun State, and once that has been done that, then of course, then of course it can be submitted to the House of Assembly of the state concerned.”
Aturu said the resolution of the House in question was not based on Section 125 but on the audit of the Auditor-General, which makes it “incurably illegal.”
He said even if it was based on the report of the Auditor-General under Section 125, they (legislators) have no power to compel or prevent legal institutes such as banks or even state governments from either entering into loan transactions “because that section does not give them that power.”
“The point I am making, which I want to make very accurately and very succinctly, is that where a legislature (whether of the state or the federation) exceeds its powers, whatever it does in respect of that power would be regarded as a nullity, unconstitutional and of no effect whatsoever.”
Aturu added that there is nothing in the constitution that even indicates that a mere resolution of a House is binding on anybody, including the governor and banks, as it is only an advisory opinion.
He said in a constitutional democracy, like Nigeria, it is wrong for a branch of government to give the impression that it is using “military jack boot methodology” to force its decisions on the state government.
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He will now apologize and still remain in power and not resign with dignity. chei
