Reps erred in taking over Rivers House, say Sagay, Agbakoba, others

Eminent Constitutional lawyers have berated the House of Representatives over its take-over of legislative duties in Rivers State. Professor Ben Nwabueze, SAN, Professor Itse Sagay, SAN, and Olisa Agbakoba, SAN, opposed the legislators’ move, describing it as a misinterpretation of constitutional provisions outlined by Section 11 of the  1999 Constitution, as amended.

They spoke yesterday at the public presentation of  Nwabueze’s two-volume autobiography in Lagos.


Action premature — Sagay
Sagay said: “The action of the Federal legislators is totally uncalled-for and unacceptable. If you look at Section 11 of our constitution, if you read it carefully, you will see that it’s meant to be combined with Section 305, under emergency provision. In order words, it is only when emergency has been declared in a state that you can expressly act under Section 11. That is the spirit of the law, but they broke that spirit, because it wasn’t expressly stated. So their action was premature.”

Arguing that there was more to the Reps’ action, he said: “If you look at this whole issue critically, you will observe that there was no need for the take-over. One, there was no evidence that a state of emergency has been declared in Rivers State.

“Two, in my view, Section 11 can’t be activated without the exercise of Section 305, which provides for emergency rule. I see this move as an act of inefficiency. This is a National Assembly that has not finished exercising its constitutional functions towards making laws to better the lots of Nigerians. What does the National Assembly know about the problems in Rivers State or its people?”

On the move by five members of the Rivers Assembly to impeach the Speaker, Dan Amachree, Sagay described it as laughable, noting that “in a House of 32 members, how is it possible for just five clowns to say they have impeached the speaker.

It’s dishonourable — Agbakoba
Agbakoba described the action of the Federal legislators as dishonourable.  He said: “This shows you what usually happens when people who are charlatans and dishonourable take up leadership positions. What is happening in the Rivers Assembly is a collossal disgrace. It’s unbelievable.

“If I must say my mind, the issue in Rivers State is just a symptom of the larger problems we have in this country. How do the people take away the power these political mediocre have? What constitutional provision are they using to back their action? Let the House of Representative do their work. In fact, let them leave Rivers Assembly, because all these boils down to struggle for power, which is unhealthy for our young democracy.”

Unconstitutional — Nwabueze
In the same vein, Prof. Nwabueze chided the Representatives saying, “their action is unconstitutional and a mere heightening of the issues in Rivers State.”