In Oyo State, political office seekers including members of the State House of Assembly have begun intense preparations for the 2015 elections. The preparations including increase in involvement in community projects, visits to their various constituencies, subtle campaigns disguised as consultations with opinion and political leaders in their areas and outright defection.
The defection of Ibrahim Bolomope, the lawmaker representing Egbeda state constituency to All Progressives Congress (APC) on 19/12 /13, was seen as one of such preparations for the 2015 elections.
The State House of Assembly, which has its origin in the old Western Regional House of Assembly and which is one of the oldest legislatures in Nigeria, will not be the same after the 2015 elections, going by unfolding political developments in the state.
The current House of Assembly inaugurated on June 10, 2011,is presently made up of 17 All Progressives Congress (APC) members, 10 Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and five Accord Party members.
For the Seventh Assembly which is made up of 32 lawmakers, belonging to three different political parties. It is only God’s intervention as well as wisdom and courage of its leadership, which have made things work among the lawmakers since its inauguration.
To date, the Seventh Assembly has passed no fewer than 35 bills into law while 21 others are being processed. Among the passed bills are those establishing The Oke-Ogun Polytechnic, Saki and The Ibarapa Polytechnic, Eruwa. Also passed into law was the bill establishing the State Technical University. The trio were part of executive bills meant to satisfy education yearnings of people of the state.
Members of the House, in their own right, have also been sponsoring bills relating to good governance, development of the state and welfare of the people. Some of these include Oyo State Office of Disability, Anti Nudity and Dress Code bill, Oyo State Community Development Committee Law (Amendment) bill, Oyo state Community Service Punishment Bill, Oyo state Vigilante Bill and Oyo State Tenancy Bill.
In sum, the Assembly has passed no fewer than 327 resolutions, made up of 203 resolutions during the first session and 124 during its second session.
The Assembly Speaker, Hajia Monsurat Sunmonu ,however, believed that whatever achievements the house was able to make since its inauguration, was mainly due to God and the cooperation of her fellow lawmakers, who allow the interests of people of the state to override other interests.
According to her, the composition of the lawmakers who are from three different political parties, was initially, a source of worry for people and observers of events in the state, considering the fact the previous Assemblies had several challenges.
Her words: “I must thank God for being with us all along and allow us to surge forward. I must thank my fellow lawmakers too for their perseverance and for accommodating one another despite the fact that we are from three different political parties. I must tell you that once we are in the chambers, we put aside our political differences and join hands with the executive to come up with laws and issues that are in the best interest of the state and that will further propel the state. And I know that Insah Allah, we shall end well.”
As the 2015 elections draw nearer, however, the lawmakers have, no doubt, intensified their efforts in seeing that they are either returned as lawmakers from their various constituencies, or as investigation has shown, elected to represent their respective constituencies at the National Assembly.
Daily Newswatch investigation, indeed, revealed that the ambition of some of the lawmakers to become National Assembly members in 2015 actually made some of them to defect to other parties from the parties which they used as platforms to be elected as members of the State House of Assembly.
Invariably, the new state Assembly after the 2015 election may not comprise some of the current state lawmakers especially if they scale through primaries and eventually go ahead to win the National Assembly election.
Similarly, the pending Appeal court case concerning the numbers of state lawmakers, may affect the new state House of Assembly, especially after the 2015 election, especially if the Appeal court upholds the judgment of a Federal High court which had earlier ruled that the current thirty-two( 32) member Assembly be increased to fourty( 40).
The Parliament recalls that a Federal High Court in Ibadan last year ordered an additional eight constituencies to the thirty-two(32) seats of the Oyo State House of Assembly.Making the order on Friday, March 8, 2013, Hon Justice Abimbola Obaseki-Adejumo, ordered the restoration of the constituencies and pronounced that elections into them must be held within the next 90 days.
The court, in its judgment on the suit filed by the Attorney General of Oyo State against the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in suit no FHC/IB/CS/39/2012 held that by virtue of the mandatory provisions of Sections 91 and 112 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, Oyo House of Assembly’s constituencies were inadequate.
Counsel to the state government, Babatunde Aiku (SAN) had asked for the restoration of the constituencies.
The court held that by those provisions of the constitution, the House was to consist of three or four times the number of seats the state has in the House of Representatives. According to the judge, by a community reading of the constitution,Oyo House of Assembly, as constituted at present, was not up to three or four times the number of seats the state has in the House of Representatives which she said was a breach of the provision of the constitution.
At present, the Oyo House of Assembly has 32 state constituencies while it has 14 federal constituencies.
The learned judge, therefore, restored additional eight constituencies named Ibadan North 3, Ibarapa South West 3, Ibarapa Central 4, Irepo, Itesiwaju, Oyo East, Saki East and Surulere.The court further ordered INEC to conduct elections into these eight constituencies within 90 days.
The Oyo State office of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) ,in its reaction to the judgment , declared that it has no option than to obey court ruling on the additional eight constituencies for the state House of Assembly. Ayodele Folami, Oyo INEC image maker told The Parliament in Ibadan,”We are aware of the ruling and we have even applied for its copy. Once we get the copy, we shall attach a covering notes to it and send it to Abuja, our headquarters which will give us further directives on the ruling.”
Further development however showed that INEC had appealed the ruling while its outcome was still being awaited by press time.
If the ruling says that there must be additional constituencies, that means the new state Assembly will have additional members.
In the same vein, developments in the three political parties whose
members make up the current lawmakers is another factor.
The ACP which has the largest number of members in the House, is an
amalgam of three political parties, the Action Congress of Nigeria
(ACN), the All Nigeria Peoples Party of Nigeria(ANPP) and Congress for Progressives Change(CPC).Of the three parties , only defunct ACN had members in the House of Assembly before the merger.
Although the APC leadership in the state has so far been successfully managing intrigues and political differences that normally accompany such merger, it should not be ruled out that some of the present members of the House may become victims of horse trading to allow unity and peace in a big party like APC. This implies some current APC lawmakers in the House may not make it in the next political dispensation.
Similar scenario may play out at Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) in 2015 as developments in the state chapter of the party have even made it difficult for observers of events to still believe that the same PDP that was once domineering, vibrant and extremely flamboyant in the state about three years ago, is now hardly heard of ,in the state.
At its peak, the state PDP from 2007 to 2011, produced Nigeria’s Senate leader, Teslim Folarin, formed the state government, controlled over two third of state house of Assembly, in addition to producing the three senators who represented the state then and larger number of members of state’s representatives at House of Representatives.
To say the truth, Oyo PDP, has since 2011, descended fast from its once enviable position in the state political arena.
Safe for activities of few of its chieftains including Senator Lekan Balogun,Minister for state for Federal Capital Territory,Oloye Jumoke Akinjide and former Governor ,Otunba Christopher Alao Akala, Oyo PDP
is presently heardly or ‘seen’ again in the state.The high number of posters of aspirants(No fewer than seven) seeking the party’s governorship ticket for the state governorship election in 2015, equally shows that peace is still elusive in the party.
The party’s ten lawmakers in the state House of Assembly who are equally supposed to constitute formidable opposition, are hardly heard too. And when they are heard,one finds it difficult to draw a line between their comments and that of their colleagues who are APC members.
The development in the state PDP essentially borders on struggle for control of the party among its various chieftains in the state, not minding what eventually becomes of the party. This may eventually affect the fortunes of the party’s members in the House of Assembly during the 2015 election.
For Accord , time will however prove the party’s claim of increase in popularity in the state since party chieftains believe the party could have done better in the 2011 election if it were to have enough time to screen its candidates then.
The lawmakers, nonetheless, continue with their preparations for the 2015 election, which, from all angles, will, hopefully result in another metamorphosis of the state House of Assembly.
Credits: Olaide Oyelude, Newswatch