By Nasir Kura
Speaker of the House of Representatives Mr Femi Gbajabiamila said Wednesday that the crisis in the Edo State House of Assembly would soon be resolved.
Fielding questions from State House correspondents after a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa in Abuja, Gbajabiamila said he had already received the report of the committee that investigated the matter.
He said the House of Representatives would do the needful including invoking Section 11 of the 1999 Constitution ad amended by taking over the functions of the Edo State House of Assembly, where necessary.
“As you know we set an adhoc committee, they went to Edo State, the report was laid and considered today and the context of the report is very clear. I think what we did was to stick strictly by the rule or by the law that guides the assembly and us as lawmakers.
“So, one of the recommendations which I believed was approved by the House, was for us to have a proper proclamation with date, venue and time which was missing in the first proclamation. They (Edo House of Assembly) have about a week to come up with the proper election of the principal officers. If in a week nothing changes, perhaps the House and the National Assembly as a whole would look at invoking section 11 of the constitution,” he said.
Asked if the governor disagrees with the lower chamber of the National Assembly, Gbajabiamila said: “I don’t think we should go down that route and say if the governor decides, that’s not a decision for anybody to make. The governor is somebody I know and I believe he will operate within the confines of the law and dictates of the law and National Assembly and all other laws. So I don’t think we should pre-empt the governor.”
On Bauchi State House of Assembly crisis, he said: “We are waiting but I believe they concluded today. The members who went to Bauchi would be back or are on their way back to Abuja and I will wait until I get the report.”
