allAfrica.com: Nigeria: AC's an Unpopular Party in Ekiti

Recently, the media was awash with reports detailing how six lawmakers allegedly met at the chamber of the Ekiti State House of Assembly to pass a motion establishing the State Independent Electoral Commission (SIEC).

In this interview with Omololu Ogunmade, Senator Ayo Arise, who represents Ekiti North senatorial district on the platform of the PDP at the Senate said frustration from AC lawmakers necessitated the development. He also speaks on the alleged propaganda by the AC in the state, among other issues.

Ekiti people woke up a forthnight ago to hear the news of how six Ekiti Peoples Democractic Party (PDP) lawmakers went into the House chambers at 5 a.m to pass a law establishing the State Independent National Electoral Commission (SIEC). They also allegedly ran away with the mace. As a prominent politician in Ekiti, what is your take on this?

Thank you very much. Let's start by correcting some of the assumptions. I'd spoken with the Speaker of the House of Assembly. I'd spoken with some of the principal leaders of the House of Assembly in Ekiti State. It is not true that they went into the chamber at 5 a.m. They passed the motion at 7 a.m. And I was reliably informed that they advertised the night before and also advertised that early morning that there would be a meeting in the morning same day the motion was passed.

I understand further that there is an order in the House rules - Order 14:1 which stipulates the time of sittings in the House. And I understand that the Head of Business set that order aside before the commencement of the activities of that day. I asked them, 'why was the order set aside? Is it your tradition or practice?' And they said 'yes, all House rules could be suspended or set aside, depending on circumstances at hand.' They said they had done it earlier when the governor came to present the budget. And normally, their rules do not support sittings on Fridays. But because the governor was coming, they set the rules aside, to enable the governor present the budget. They now said it was in the same vein, that they asked members to come. And they sat early in the morning.

But the day they held this controversial meeting was not a Friday, which means it must be one of the days the House sits?

Yes. It was a working day. It was a regular day, which means you can have emergency meetings. You can have reasons to change a sitting time as long as the process is followed and as long as constitutionally, it is permissible. Without necessarily say it is the best practice, we have to understand that there is a special problem in Ekiti. And any special problem requires a special solution.

I believe that episode took place because of the peculiar nature of the House, where PDP lawmakers are usually held to ransom by the AC. And they called them, because any of them could be having meetings in Lagos, consulting their leaders in Lagos, rather than being in Ekiti. So, I believe what they did was to find a solution. And I understand that when they were at the meeting, the Deputy Speaker of the House came and one other member of the opposition and because they were not properly dressed, because they reportedly came in bathroom slippers and all that - maybe they heard the announcement in the morning and they jumped out of the bed to go and join the sitting, they could not join the meeting..

I learnt everybody was invited and I understand 10 members sat and not six. And they voted for the motion to establish SIEC.

But why would the entire 10 members who sat be only PDP lawmakers in a House which comprises the opposition?

Well, it could have happened that the 10 of them were PDP members, but they were assembly members. And their House rules said anytime you form a quorum, which is nine, you have the requirement to sit. The rules do not say every sitting must involve opposition parties or must include Party A or party B. A quorum is a quorum and it is one-third of members and in the Ekiti case, the quorum is nine.

So, 10 of them sat and they passed the motion and without trying to say it was the best scenario, I want to assure you that many of these tactics were learnt from the opposition in Ekiti. I think these were just students who learnt from the opposition.

The truth of the matter is that there will be an amendment to envisage a situation where we have equal members of both the opposition parties and the ruling party. That was not envisaged in the Constitution. Now that we have experienced it, if there is any need for amendment to take care of such a peculiar situation, that will be taken care of in the constitution review.

It wasn't envisaged that there could be 13 to 13 members of a House of Assembly as it is the case in Ekiti. And now that it has happened, are we going to say because we have 13/13, we are not going to move in Ekiti? We have somebody (the governor) in the saddle. But some people are just very powerful with the press and propaganda and they can speak and are able to make so much noise. That is what has translated into the situation on ground today in Ekiti.

The truth of the matter is that these people are hell bent, holding Ekiti to ransom, saying until the tribunal concludes sittings, there will be no election into the local governments. Now, when you go about saying that and Ekiti is not the only state where we have tribunals looking into petitions over governorship election and you look at all these circumstances, politics of bitterness, holding people to ransom; they shouldn't forget that we are all from Ekiti State.

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