Emmanuel Thomas, Lagos
October 02, 2015 – The Lagos State House of Assembly has denied reports that it is fighting Governor Akinwunmi Ambode over composition of his cabinet submitted to the house for approval.
The assembly had set up an adhoc committee to screen proposed members of Ambode’s cabinet.
Addressing the press on the issue today, Chairman of the committee, who is also the Deputy Speaker of the House, Hon. Wasiu Sanni Eshinlokun stated that the process was constitutional.
According to him, Section 192 (4) of the constitution provides that nobody should be appointed as a commissioner unless he is qualified for election as a member of the House of Assembly.
“The reason for the screening is for proper job rather than, when we ask questions on the floor of the House. We want to check the certificates of the nominees rather than embarrassing them on the floor of the House.
“We want to do the necessary things because if we call the nominees to floor of the House and ask them to just take a bow and go, that would make it to be business as usual. The whole thing bothers on the provision of the constitution,” he said.
The lawmaker stated that the House has a very good relationship with the Governor, pointing out that if the relationship was messy, they wouldn’t have given the Governor’s request for budget re-ordering an easy passage.
“Nominees were asked to write aptitude test in Cross Rivers State. We
do not have any issue with the executive. It is wrong to say we set up the committee because the Governor wrote that the cabinet members would be sworn-in on Monday 5th, October.
“We are not even aware of such date, the Governor did not give us any swearing-in date in the letter he sent to us,” he said, adding that they have to do their job properly as lawmakers.
Eshinlokun said further that any nominee that is found to have presented fake certificate would be automatically disqualified.
He said that it should not be business as usual based on the current change mantra in the country, while stressing that the nominees would still be invited to the floor of the House for another screening at the end of the committee’s work, which would start on Monday 5th October and end on Friday 9th October.
Areas to be considered in the screening, according to Eshinlokun, include proof of party membership with letters from the state chairman and respective chairman of the local government chapter of the nominee, and concurrent of the honourable members representing the nominee’s local government.
Others are profiling by the Directorate of the State Security (absolving the nominee of act of terrorism or corruption) and certificate of fitness from any Lagos State Government General Hospital.
