By Amos Aar
THE BENUE State House of Assembly on Friday rejected a correspondence from Governor Hyacinth Alia seeking the screening and confirmation of commissioner-nominees to feel vacancies created by the recent dissolution of the State Executive Council (SEC) by the governor.
The decision was taken during a plenary presided over by the Speaker, Hon. Aondona Dajoh, following a motion of urgent public importance moved by Hon. Shimapever Jiji.
Hon. Jiji told the House that Governor Alia had consistently failed to honour resolutions by the House of Assembly and had treated members with “total disregard”.
Seconding the motion, Hon. Thomas Dugeri accused Governor Alia of ignoring pressing concerns previously raised by the Assembly, alleging that he had shown no respect for the legislative chamber.
Contributors to the debate stressed that the move was not intended to stall governance but to compel the executive to respect the independence of the legislature and fulfil earlier commitments.
They said lawmakers were not opposed to screening commissioner-nominees but insisted that the governor must first honour agreements and implement House resolutions.
The Assembly demanded that the governor should immediately provide official vehicles to affected members and give effect to suspension notices issued to the Chairman of the State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), the Chairman of Otukpo Local Government Council, and the Executive Secretary of the Benue State Sports Lottery and Marketing Board.
The House resolved that it would not honour or entertain any further correspondence from the executive arm until the governor complies with the demands.
1 Comment
The House of Assembly reserves the right to fight for her recognition at all costs but they must be careful not to stall affairs of governance by starving the ministries their much desired political heads. They’ll inadvertently position the Permanent Secretaries to take decisions that may not conform with manifestos on which the mandate stands. There are several other ways that the Assembly could twist the arms of the governor.