Edo 2020
AGF Usurping Edo AG In House Crisis – SAN
Tells Members-Elect What To Do
By GWG Staff
A Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN, Mr. Abiodun Ownikoko has faulted the Attorney General of the Federation, AGF, Abubakar Malami for supposedly usurping the duties of the Attorney General of Edo State in his actions in affairs of the State House of Assembly.
Speaking in an interview, Mr. Owonikoko faulted the AGF’s letter to the Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Adamu saying that he had no role in the affairs of the Edo State House of Assembly.
Owonikoko who spoke in an interview on Channels Television Sunrise programme, said even if anyone of the members-elect were hurt that the right person that they should complain to would be the Attorney General of Edo State.
“The right person to meet is the AG of the state not the AGF and by the way we have already passed the and by the way we have passed that stage,” he said even as he asked “What has he been doing since June 2019.”
Explaining the role of the governor in the crisis, the senior lawyer said:
“It is not a governor that inaugurates parliament. When they are first elected it is the clerk that conducts the election. Where does the governor play a role in all of these? His duty is to issue a proclamation,” he said saying that the governor has no further role.
Asked on how long someone could be sustained as a member-elect, the lawyer said that so it could not be more than one year.
According to him, any member or member-elect who does not take his seat for 181 days under constitutional provisions stands the risk of losing his seat.
He said that the mistake of the members-elect was exactly what happened in 2015 when some APC members relocated to the International Conference Centre in Abuja paving way for Senator Bukola Sarakie to emerge as Senate President with a minority of the vote.
He, however, pointed at a relief for the members-elect saying that they could plead if the proclamation was not communicated to them or if the inauguration was done outside the working hours of parliament.
“If the proclamation was done outside of the sitting hours they may have a case and they may go to court on that but not to get the IG to write a letter to the police to ensure their inauguration,” he said.
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