Nasarawa Assembly: 2 Speakers, One House

Unarguably, current happenings in the Nasarawa State House of Assembly where two persons are laying claims to the Assembly speakership, has further exposed the existing but often denied cold war between political gladiators of the ruling All Progressives Congress-APC- in the state.

At separate sittings of the Assembly held on June 6, 2023, Balarabe Abdullahi representing  Umaisha/Ugya constituency and Daniel Ogah Ogazi from Kokona constituency, were purportedly elected as speakers. While Balarabe Abdullahi, the immediate past Speaker, who is seeking a third term as Speaker was elected at a sitting that took place at the Ministry for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Ogazi emerged as Speaker after a sitting at the State Assembly complex.

Fundamentally, the emergence of both Balarabe and Ogazi from separate sittings of the Assembly, aside from factionalising the state Assembly, has thrown up issues regarding the validity of anyone laying claims to the office of the Assembly speaker.

While Balarabe was elected at a venue outside the officially designated chambers of the House of Assembly, Ogazi’s election, though done in the House of Assembly Complex, held without the presence of the Clerk or Deputy Clerk or an official mandated to act in such capacity by the Clerk of the Assembly and, without the official Mace, which is the symbol of authority of the House of Assembly.

From this unfortunate development, this newspaper is of the opinion that both factions have breached some aspects of the Constitution, the Law, the Procedure and the established convention for the election of the Speaker of the State House of Assembly.

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Similarly, it is our view that unless concrete steps are taken to address the current leadership imbroglio rocking the Nasarawa State House of Assembly, legislative activities will be impeded with huge consequences on the state’s economic and political affairs.

It is worrisome, in our view, that these are not the best of times for the 7th legislative session of the Nasarawa State House of Assembly as members wrangle over who is best suited to assume the office of the speaker.

As is to be expected in such scenarios, speculation is rife that the crisis is a proxy war between Governor Abdullahi Sule and his predecessor, Tanko Umaru Al-Makura. While Governor Sule is alleged to be in support of the leadership of Balarabe, Al-Makura is reportedly rooting for Ogazi.

Already, Ogazi’s 13-member camp held its plenary at the Nasarawa State House of Assembly and suspended Balarabe Abdullahi’s 10-member group indefinitely. An action the other faction described as a joke taken too far. To all intents, it is obvious that a battle line has been drawn, irreconcilable as it seems, to the detriment of good governance in the state.

Rather than allow themselves to be used as pawns in the chess game of power play between the APC political gladiators in the state, the lawmakers must demonstrate maturity by reconvening in the shortest possible time to elect a leadership that will pilot the affairs of the House for the good of the state and its people.

But should this prove complicated, critical stakeholders of, especially the ruling APC in Nasarawa State, ought to urgently convene an emergency meeting to find an acceptable way out of this problem.

It needs be pointed out that Balarabe and Ogazi are both members of the ruling APC and as the party which has a simple majority in the House, the APC must demonstrate its crisis management capacity by urgently addressing this messy affair and restore confidence in both its members and the citizens of the state who have demonstrated an abiding faith in the party by voting it into office.

Interestingly, the Police has sealed the Assembly complex as a means of forestalling escalation of the crisis with a strong warning on the lawmakers to steer clear of the edifice. The electorate in Nasarawa state that voted for the ruling APC envisaged an Assembly that will be properly convened to discharge its duties of making laws for the peace, order and good governance, progress and development of all. Anything short of this is outside what they bargained for.

The lawmakers need to know that with appalling statistics and poor ranking in different human development index, what Nasarawa requires is a united legislature that will support the executive in turning things around for good.

Should the APC fail to amicably resolve this imbroglio, it would drag the state into an unnecessary and unwanted crisis that will stall governance and ultimately further pauperise the already impoverished residents. Perhaps this is yet another test for the APC national chairman, Abdullahi Adamu who, incidentally, hails from the state.