The Benue State governor, Rev. Fr. Hyacinth Alia, and his Zamfara State counterpart, Dauda Lawal, along with the leaderships of their respective State Houses of Assembly, were on Thursday absent at the investigative hearing of House of Representatives Committee on Public Petitions in Abuja.
The governors and leaderships of their State legislatures were to explain why the functions of their State Houses of Assembly should not be taken over by the Green Chamber of the National Assembly.
The legislative panel had last week summoned Alia and Lawal as well as the leaderships of the Benue and Zamfara State Houses of Assembly
over a petition written by a civil rights organisation, Guardians of Democracy and Rule of Law.
The Guardians of Democracy and Rule of Law had urged the Green Chamber to invoke its constitutional powers to take over the legislative functions of both State Houses of Assembly, guaranteed under Section 11 of the 1999 Constitution as amended.
But those invited did not turn up for the investigative hearing to advance their positions on the petition and why the federal legislative house should not take over their legislatures owing to internal crises.
The crisis in the Benue State House of Assembly followed the suspension of 13 lawmakers for three months for allegedly opposing the removal of Maurice Ikpambese, the state’s chief judge who was accused of gross misconduct and corruption.
In Zamfara State, four members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and six members from the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), were suspended by the Assembly in February 2025 for allegedly holding an illegal plenary.
Currently, two lawmakers, Bilyaminu Moriki and Bashar Gummi (representing Gummi I Constituency) are each laying claim to the position of Speaker of Zamfara House of Assembly.
The Gummi-led faction had convened a parallel sitting and purportedly impeached Moriki and in retaliation, the Moriki-led Assembly suspended 10 members loyal to Gummi, accusing them of conducting an illegal session and declaring the impeachment attempt invalid.
However, speaking at House of Representatives committee’s hearing, a representative of the petitioner said: “Our petition is founded on established precedents,” citing rulings by the Court of Appeal and the Federal High Court. “No House of Assembly has the jurisdiction to suspend a sitting member for more than 14 days — anything beyond that is unconstitutional.”
The petitioners, through their legal representative, expressed concern that both Benue and Zamfara State governments had outrightly rejected the National Assembly’s authority to summon them.
One of the suspended Zamfara Assembly members, who also expressed frustration at the state of the hearing, decried the governors’ stance.
“Before we came here, we were informed that neither the governors nor the Assemblies would appear. One of them even boasted in writing that nothing would come out of this process,” the suspended lawmaker said.
However, deputy chairman of the House Committee, Hon. Matthew Nwogu, who presided due to a change in leadership just a day before, raised concerns that the petition might not have been properly laid before the House plenary — a required step before the committee can assume jurisdiction.
He said: “I have the paper here, but there is no House stamp on it. Until we confirm the petition was duly laid before the House and referred to this committee, we cannot proceed legitimately.”
While petitioners’ representative maintained that the petition was submitted and referred through proper channels, the committee resolved to investigate its procedural standing before making further progress.
“The former chairman of the committee will have to sit with the new Chairman and tell us what he knows about this issue, then after we will know what next steps to take,” Hon. Nwogu added.
Speaking at the meeting, the new chairman of the panel, Hon. Kwamoti Bitrus Laori, who, however, did not preside over the committee’s hearing, pleaded with all sides to maintain decorum.
“Please, let us follow due process. This matter is emotional, but we cannot let feelings override constitutional procedures,” he stated.
The committee reiterated that the absence of summoned individuals would not halt its work, but emphasised that due process must be followed, especially if the House intends to invoke Section 11 to take over state legislative duties.
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