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19 EKITI APC LAWMAKERS
The Speaker of Ekiti State House of Assembly, Dr Adewale Omirin, has reacted to the alleged directive by Governor Ayodele Fayose urging the Ministry of Justice to write a memo authorising the state commissioner of police, Taiwo Lakanu, to arrest the 19 All Progressives Congress (APC) lawmakers.
The APC lawmakers held a separate plenary last Friday at an undisclosed public building in Ado-Ekiti, the state capital.
The Ekiti House of Assembly has been split between factions loyal to the governor, comprising six members of the Peoples Democratic Party and the remaining 19 members loyal to the APC. Both factions have also laid claim to the speakership position.
Omirin in a statement by his special adviser on media, Wole Olujobi, said that the APC lawmakers acted within the law to conduct their sitting in a public building in the state capital.
The statement reads in part: “The governor or the police cannot arrest us for performing our constitutional duty. Section 101 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria makes it explicit that the House can regulate its activities, including conducting its sittings in public buildings in the state capital.
“The Supreme Court had also ruled that the House can conduct its sittings in public places in the state capital if conditions exist that endanger members in the conduct of their sittings.
“Governor Fayose has kept armed thugs permanently in the House of Assembly to attack us. We can’t put ourselves in harm’s way, yet we have a responsibility to our constituents to make laws for good governance. This is why we followed the law to sit to consider issues on the ongoing constitutional amendment”.
