Governors of Zamfara and Benue states, Dauda Lawal and Hyacinth Alia, respectively, have raised concerns over the legality of the invitation issued to them by the House of Representatives Committee on Public Petitions.
The governors, alongside their respective state houses of assembly, were summoned to appear before the committee over what the lawmakers described as alleged constitutional violations and governance breakdowns in both states.
The summons was contained in a statement issued by the Head of Media, House Committee on Public Petitions, Chooks Oko, on Friday.
The lawmakers, in a meeting scheduled for March 8, seek explanations from the governors and the houses on issues ranging from legislative suspensions to deteriorating security, and why the National Assembly should not take over the functions of the affected houses as permitted under Section 11(4) of the 1999 Constitution.
In Benue State, there was the controversial suspension of 13 members of the state assembly who were not loyal to the governor.
The lawmakers were suspended for kicking against the suspension of the state Chief Judge, Justice Maurice Ikpambese, by the governor.
In Zamfara, the situation is complicated by the emergence of a parallel assembly, with nine lawmakers claiming continued legitimacy despite being suspended.
These lawmakers, operating under a factional leadership, recently asked the governor to present the 2025 budget, as they insisted on performing their legislative duties.
Zamfara and Benue states have also been epicentres of persistent insecurity, with each state facing deeply-rooted security crises that have escalated in recent years.
Zamfara is battling unrelenting attacks by bandits operating across forests and rural communities, engaging in mass abductions, cattle rustling, and extortion.
Benue, often referred to as the “Food Basket of the Nation,” has been a hotspot for violent clashes between farming communities and armed herders with attendant killings.
Speaking on the invitation, a top government official in Benue State who preferred not to be named because he was not authorised to speak on the matter told The PUNCH that the government was already studying it and considering if the National Assembly had the constitutional right to invite a governor and members of the House of Assembly.
“This is a constitutional matter, and the government needs to find out if the National Assembly has oversight functions on the state government and its state assembly.
“I think the law will answer that, so the attorney general would soon respond to that,” the source told our correspondent on the phone.
Efforts to get the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice and Public Orders, Fidelis Mnyimn, were not successful as calls made to his telephone were not responded to.
He also did not respond to text messages sent to his cellphone as of the time of filing this report.
When contacted, the Speaker of the House of Assembly, Hyacinth Dajoh, said he was yet to receive the formal invitation.
The speaker said, “It’s all a social media issue. I am yet to receive the invitation letter, maybe the letter may reach my office tomorrow (Monday), I cannot say.
“But as I am talking to you now, it’s a mere media issue and I cannot respond to it.”
The opposition Peoples Democratic Party in the state and the Austin Agada-led State Working Committee of the APC loyal to the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, welcomed the invitation.
Speaking in a separate telephone interview with our correspondent on Sunday, the state PDP Publicity Secretary, Tim Nyior, described the suspension of the 13 lawmakers as “legislative rascality.”
Nyior said the suspension had deprived nearly two million people in the state of their legitimate representation.
The Publicity Secretary of the Agada-led APC, Daniel Ihomun, said the suspension of the 13 lawmakers had driven the state gradually to anarchy.
“What is happening in the state is a rape of democracy. You cannot just sack 13 members of the state assembly because the affected members did the right thing in rejecting the recommendation for the sack of the state Chief Judge, Justice Maurice Ikpambese.
“What the House of Representatives has done is to stop anarchy in the state, because the state is already drifting into anarchy,” Ihomun said.
The governor’s APC faction, however, said the situation in the state did not warrant the National Assembly takeover.
The state Publicity Secretary of the caretaker committee, James Orgunga, said, “This is the issue of the law, and the law is very clear on this matter.
“It’s when the state assembly cannot carry out its function that the National Assembly takes over.
“In this situation, there is nothing to warrant that because the assembly is carrying out its function.”
The Senior Special Assistant to Governor Dauda Lawal on Media and Communications, Mustafa Kaura, said the National Assembly had no constitutional right to invite a serving governor to appear before it.
He said, “The National Assembly, whether Senate or the House of Representatives, cannot invite the governor on issues relating to his state.
“Only the state assembly has the power to invite a governor to appear before it.”
Kaura also wondered how the lawmakers who were currently on recess could hurriedly return to the National Assembly and invite the governor to appear before them.
“The honourable members are currently on recess, and I wonder if they have terminated their holidays and returned to Abuja just to see the two governors of Zamfara and Benue.
“Governor Lawal did not even receive the invitation letter and will not go to Abuja to waste his time,” he said.
Defending the Zamfara State governor, the state PDP spokesperson, Halliru Andi, said the House of Representatives may invite governors on national issues, but it was not compulsory/binding on the governors to accept the invitation.
Andi said the invitation seemed to be politically motivated rather than a legitimate constitutional step.
“The committee needs to be reminded that governors are accountable to their state legislatures and the electorates, not to the House of Representatives.
“We all know that all the blame directed at Governor Dauda Lawal on the issue of insecurity in the state was politically motivated and sponsored by members of the immediate-past administration,” he said.
Andi blamed the Federal Government and past governors for their inability to end banditry.
He asked, “How does one expect the PDP government in the state to end banditry within two years, something that APC governments at the state and federal levels couldn’t end in 12 years?”
The PDP spokesperson said the call for the declaration of a state of emergency in Zamfara over banditry was sponsored by the APC stakeholders to drag the state backwards.
“It is the responsibility of the Federal Government to provide security to the people of the country.
“As such, the lawmakers should blame nobody but Tinubu’s government for a security breach,” he said.
Countering his position, Zamfara APC spokesperson, Yusuf Idris, said the invitation extended to the Benue and Zamfara governors was the right move in the right direction.
He said, going by the security situation in Zamfara State, the Federal Government and other relevant stakeholders like the National Assembly have a duty to restore peace in the state.
“Going by the deteriorating nature of the security situation in Zamfara State, it is a welcome development for the members of the House of Representatives to invite the governor of Zamfara State and his counterpart in Benue State to find lasting solutions,” he said.
Idris also said the issue of parallel houses of assembly in the state was enough to invite the governor.
“Even the budget he is currently executing is illegal because it did not pass through the legislative process, as there were only 10 members present during the budget presentation,” he said.
Meanwhile, the nine-member parallel assembly members in Zamfara State have vowed to continue sitting, despite alleged intimidation and harassment by the government.
In a statement on Sunday, signed by the member representing Talata-Mafara South Constituency, Aliyu Kagara, on behalf of other members, the factional assembly said its members would continue to work in the spheres of their mandate as lawmakers in the state.
“We in the Zamfara State parallel House of Assembly under the eminent leadership of Hon Bashar Aliyu Gummi wish to categorically state and inform the good people of the state that we shall continue to work in the spheres of our mandate as lawmakers of our dear state and representatives of our respective constituents.
“No amount of intimidation from the state government, including the use of some so-called politically twisted courts or legal officers, can derail our focused leadership.
“We are aware of the malicious actions against us by the state government and have written petitions against the Dauda Lawal-led administration to security agencies, both at the state and national levels,” the statement read.
It added that members were aware of the alleged plan to attack them and their families by using political thugs.
“We are also aware and in possession of a recorded planned attack on us and our families by some thugs close to the governor and have alerted the security on these, in case anything happens to any of us (individually or collectively),” the statement added.
Punch
