Fresh drama unfolded at the House of Representatives on Thursday as the Governor of Zamfara State, Dauda Lawal, and his counterpart in Benue State, Rev Fr Hyacinth Alia, failed to honour a summons by the House Committee on Public Petitions probing crises in the respective state Houses of Assembly.
Tensions rose during the session when a suspended lawmaker from Zamfara, visibly upset, declared that he had lost confidence in the process.
He lamented his prolonged suspension of 16 months while alleging bias on the part of the House of Representatives.
Another suspended member from Benue urged the committee to proceed with its deliberations and reach a resolution, saying the Green Chamber had promised to look into the matter even in the absence of the governors and leadership of the affected state assemblies.
Recall that the Committee had summoned both governors and the leadership of the respective legislative houses to explain why the functions of the Houses of Assembly should not be taken over by the House of Representatives.
This is sequel to a petition written by a civil rights organisation, Guardians of Democracy and Rule of Law, urging the House to take over the functions of the two Houses of Assembly under Section 11 of the 1999 Constitution.
At the heart of the grievance is the claim that governors in Benue and Zamfara allegedly orchestrated the suspension of lawmakers in their respective state assemblies, rendering both chambers unable to form a quorum and, by extension, incapable of fulfilling their lawmaking functions.
But both the Benue and Zamfara State Houses of Assembly rejected the summons issued on them by the Reps’ committee, describing it as unconstitutional and an overreach of federal legislative powers. Both Houses said they are not answerable to the National Assembly.
In Zamfara, four members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and six from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) were suspended by the Assembly in February 2024 for allegedly holding an illegal plenary.
For Benue, the House of Assembly suspended 13 lawmakers for three months for allegedly opposing the removal of Maurice Ikpambese, the state’s chief judge, whom they accused of gross misconduct and corruption.
Speaking at the hearing on Thursday, legal representative to the petitioners, Ihensekhien Samuel, said the petition is founded on established precedents, saying that no House of Assembly has the jurisdiction to suspend a sitting member for more than 14 days, adding that anything beyond that is unconstitutional.
He noted with concern that the state governments had outrightly rejected the National Assembly’s authority to summon them.
One of the suspended Zamfara State House of Assembly members, while expressing frustration at the meeting, decried the governor’s stance.
He said, “Before we came here, we were informed that neither the governors nor the assembly leadership would appear. One of them even boasted in writing that nothing would come out of this process.”
However, the committee’s work hit an early procedural snag.
Deputy Chairman of the Public Petitions Committee, Matthew Nwogu, who presided due to a change in leadership in the committee, raised concerns that the petition might not have been properly laid before the House plenary.
He said: “I have the paper here, but there is no House stamp on it. Until we confirm the petition was duly laid before the House and referred to this committee, we cannot proceed legitimately.”
While Samuel maintained the petition was submitted and referred through proper channels, the committee resolved to investigate its procedural standing before making further progress.
The committee reiterated that the absence of summoned individuals would not halt its work but stressed that due process must be followed, especially if the House intends to invoke Section 11 to take over state legislative duties.
The panel thereafter adjourned the hearing to May 14 while urging the petitioners to remain patient.
