Kwara Speaker And His Contempt For The Constitution

Now that the Kwara State House of Assembly under Hon. Yakub Danladi Salihu has eventually decided to perform its constitutional role, we need to review why Kwara State is one of the last of all the 36 states to screen and confirm the nominees for the post of commissioners in the government of Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq.

Against the provision of the constitution that not more than 60 days after being inaugurated, the President and Governors must submit to their respective legislature the names of their nominees for the office of ministers and commissioners, the Kwara State Governor acted in breach of the law. This is because the last day for submission of names of commissioners-nominees to the House of Assembly was July 27th, 2023 for a governor who began his tenure on May 29th, 2023.

However, instead of the Kwara State House of Assembly receiving the list of the nominees from the governor and making the names public with the plan on the modalities and timelines for the screening of the commissioner-nominees, the Speaker caused an announcement to be made that the House was going on recess.

Many people in the state saw the curious announcement of a recess by the House of Assembly without any word on the list of commissioner-nominees and their screening as a very strange development. Many of the residents raised questions on why Kwara legislators would be the only ones going on recess when their counterparts in other states were busy trying to quickly complete their assignment on the formation of the federal and state executive councils so that governance could begin in full.

The National Assembly set the pace by immediately postponing its recess and shelving all other plans to concentrate on the ministerial screening and confirmation process. The Senators sat at irregular hours and days to ensure that they timely concluded the screening and confirmation process to allow the president to have his ministers and form his cabinet. Other state legislatures followed the good example from Abuja.

However, the KWHA led by Danladi Salihu was the only one who did not think the issue of screening commissioners was important. It then became obvious that Danladi Salihu and his co-legislators were only aiding and abetting the violation of the constitution. There was no list. People started complaining and raising questions. Incidentally, the main opposition party, PDP, which should also have been very vociferous and made so much noise about the serious infraction and disregard for the constitution by both Abdulrazak and Salihu was silent.

It was when the noise reached the zenith and it became generally known that President Bola Tinubu was set to inaugurate his cabinet that the Kwara Governor who as chairman of the Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF) Assembly ought to be setting the pace, now saw that there was no longer a hiding place. Then Danladi Salihu and his colleague in contrite claimed they had resumed recess. The governor also sneaked in a list of 18 men and women as nominees and the list was made public on August 14, 2023.

On little issues, you can determine the character of an individual. Though the issue of forming the cabinet in a state is not small, yet it has enabled Kwarans to determine the type of leader that Danladi Salihu will be.

On this matter, he was trying to satisfy Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq to remain the good boy. He jettisoned the interest of the state and sought to protect the governor while they both violated the letters and spirit of the constitution. Danladi Salihu only serves the purpose for which the governor made a neophyte, inexperienced, and paperweight like him the Speaker. And it is only a Governor like Abdulrahman who will jettison other experienced and competent legislators for a rookie like Danladi Salihu.

Danladi Salihu and his colleagues have proved to be lawmakers who are lawbreakers. The Speaker is no longer fit to occupy that office. He should resign. He is not fit for any public office. He has aided and abetted in the rubbishing of constitutional provisions. He has desecrated the ground norm.

The stakeholders in Kwara North senatorial district should watch this development carefully. They should note the action of Danladi and remember when the time comes to recall it at the time of judgement. It is alleged that he wants to be governor. Now, people should see the kind of governor this speaker will be. He will be a governor of anything goes. He will sell both the senatorial district and the state out for his good or convenience. He will throw people under the bus at any time.

This speaker is not a man who will speak out for his district when it needs a voice and neither will he boldly show his face when the district or state needs physical representation.

The speaker of the Kwara State House of Assembly has fumbled and has committed a gaffe that will haunt him for a long time to come. We shall wait and see.

Ndanusa writes from Kpada, Patigi LGA

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