Mayhem in Edo Assembly

Adams Oshiomole, Edo State Governor, Nigeria

LAST week, members of the Edo State House of Assembly re-enacted the kind of disreputable conduct that had been so regularly acted out in other legislatures in the country. The Speaker at the time, Hon. Zakawanu Garuba, turned his gavel into a weapon, hitting the head and hands of another lawmaker. A legislator whipped out a teargas canister and sprayed some of his colleagues, with intent to suffocate them. Even more horrifying, another legislator emerged with an axe from his dress and split open the head of a fellow lawmaker.

The immediate cause of the mayhem was the attempt by some lawmakers to impeach Garuba as Speaker. To forestall the plan, Garuba hurriedly adjourned the plenary. His approach was to prevent a member whom he suspected would move the motion for his (Speaker's) ouster. Thereafter, commotion ensued, resulting in a bloodbath.

There can be no justification for honourable members of the legislature behaving like thugs. No matter how heated a debate might be; no matter how provocative a motion might be, lawmakers ought to be able to keep their anger in check. To suddenly lose their cool, and then resort to the use of dangerous weapons inside the otherwise hallowed chambers of the House, is to impugn their own integrity and lower their esteem in the eyes of the public.

Ordinarily, the choice of the principal officers of a legislature is the internal affair of the members. There are no compelling reasons to alter that principle. In exercising their prerogative, the legislators may opt to retain or to remove even their leaders, a fact which has been played out on several occasions in various state legislatures and the National Assembly. Often, though, it boils down to a game of numbers involving the protagonists and antagonists of the targeted officer for impeachment.

Garuba who was Speaker when all hell broke loose in the Edo House last week is a veteran of the somewhat routine but usually charged replacement of the Speaker. He was in the House of Assembly from 2003 to 2007. During that period, he witnessed the ouster of Friday Itulah as Speaker. He was also in the House when, in February 2006, there was another revenge ouster against David Iyoha, who was dropped and Itulah reinstated. In both instances, it was the result of the internal contradictions within the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP), which held an unassailable majority in the House at the time.

Today, the composition of the Edo House is different. The PDP and the Action Congress (AC) each has 12 seats in the 24-member legislature. When he was elected Speaker in June 2007, Garuba's PDP had a majority of seats (16-8) from the flawed elections two months earlier. Just as Comrade Adams Oshiomhole (AC) judicially ousted Prof. Oserheimen Osunbor (PDP) to become Governor, over time, the election petition tribunal and the Court of Appeal had reversed the fortunes of the PDP in the Edo House. Last month, in a by-election, the AC trounced the PDP, thus making even the membership of the House.

Every discernible observer could foresee the crisis which engulfed the Edo House last week. Only a few days before, reports were rife about the AC reaching out to some PDP legislators to cross-carpet. The intention being to gain a majority and then assume the Speakership with the least constraint. Zakawanu Garuba, the then Speaker, retorted with a fiat, threatening to declare vacant the seat of any defector. This in spite of the constitutional support for such action, as evidenced, for example, by the crisis that has torn the PDP apart in Edo State. The party has two factional chairmen in the state, even though one is more vociferous.

The desperate attempt by Garuba to cling to the Speaker's chair is condemnable. He was not being recalled from the legislature; and so, he still has his seat as a floor member. As Speaker, he was only first among equals. The Speakership is not his birthright. With the defection of one PDP lawmaker to the AC, the legislature reconvened hours after the bloodbath and elected a protem Speaker, while impeaching and suspending Garuba and a few others. They are to be probed.

We do not expect calm to return so soon. In fact, a clash between supporters of the AC and the PDP was averted by the security agencies, the day after the squabble inside the chamber. But it is unacceptable that the police shut the gates to the Assembly. Save in so far as it was to prevent any breach of the peace, the police must recognise and respect the doctrine of separation of powers. The police cannot shut the lawmakers from their offices and their chamber. What the police should do is to provide the enabling environment for the Assembly to meet. Otherwise, by shutting the Assembly, the police would inadvertently be empowering a few thugs whose aim is to disrupt proceedings of the House.

The security agencies must be vigilant and firm while tempers run high. Only a few days ago, an explosive device, which the police said was capable of causing maximum damage within a radius of at least 250 metres, was discovered beside the perimeter wall of the Assembly complex. It is a frightening development that is bound to escalate the tensions in the House. Already, while the House has elected Hon. Bright Omokhodion as its substantive Speaker, a faction of the PDP has rejected the choice, insisting that Garuba remained the Speaker.

A parallel legislative leadership certainly bodes ill for the state. Ultimately, the tension in the House can be mediated by persons who can exercise moral authority over the lawless lawmakers. We urge their intercession, and let the House resume its regular business on the basis of its preferred leadership.