Says Finance and insecurity remains the biggest challenge of Ekiti State.
Rt. Hon. Hakeem Jamiu
Since he joined partisan politics in 1991 as a research officer and aide, few years after he left school,he has gone through the mill,learn the ropes from a research and documentary officer of a political party to getting elected as a member of his native Ekiti state House of Assembly, Rt Honourable Hakeem Jamiu, a graduate of Political science from the University of Lagos knows his onion.
With his apprenticeship in political administration and business exploits, he learn early the game of politics especially in his native Ekiti where the love of knowledge and crave for books is second to none.
Hakeem love books, read books and with his master’s degree he’s able to horn himself in local politics and the result is his position today as Deputy Speaker of the Ekiti State House of Assembly.
As for him, rotation of power among the three Senatorial district in the state is very sacrosanct just as he believes that separating the local government from the state under which they operate is clearly against the spirit of Federalism adding,” the life and death of a local government is in the hands of the state since only the Federal government is the Central power with states as federating units. ”
According to him, inordinate ambition of suspended one week speaker, Olugbenga Aribisogan is at the root of problems of the state assembly,and his inability to follow due process in removing the Speaker shortly after the demise of former Speaker the late Funminiyi Afuye.
This attitude which he said has been stock in trade of Aribisogan since the Ayo Fayose, says made him to use all means possible to compromise the state assembly members and used a few of them in pursuing his inordinate ambition to become Speaker having failed in same plot during the era of former Governor Ayodele Fayose.
He speaks on this and other issues in this revealing interview with Tunde Abatan.
Teaser:
“The main issue facing governance in the State is Finance. Ekiti receives second lowest amount of statutory allocation from the federations account. Despite this, the immediate past government of Governor Fayemi and that of present Governor Biodun Oyebanji have tried to give the people dividends of democracy and have not owed workers salary. Governor Oyebanji being part of the Fayemi government has been able to take off from where the former administration stopped. The goodwill of International partners have been of tremendous help to the present administration. Another issue facing governance is bad roads especially the interstate link roads which are mostly federal roads. Also some internal roads in the state capital are bad but are receiving attention.
The issue of insecurity is also there as this is affecting agricultural production as farmers are afraid to go to their farms, but the government is seriously working to tackle this security concern which has gone down drastically in the last two months.”
Excerpts:
ND: How has it been on the saddle for the past four years as Deputy Speaker of a state peopled by enlightened citizenry?
Hon: It had been very challenging. It is a new experience being a lawmaker representing my good people of Irepodun-Ifelodun Constituency II and Deputy Speaker of the House of Assembly. My constituency comprises of eleven communities and I relate with them regularly as a form a constituency engagement in meeting their needs and requests as their representative. It has been an exciting experience though.
ND: Would you say the state assembly dominated by the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, lived up to expectation?
Hon: Yes. To the best of my knowledge, the 6th Assembly in Ekiti State has lived up to expectation especially in the area of its primary responsibility of law making. As at today, the 6th Assembly has passed 90 Bills into law, the highest so far in the history of legislature in Ekiti State. The quality of Bills passed into law also made the 6th Assembly stand out among other legislative houses in Nigeria. The most outstanding among this is the “Transition Law 2019″ which forbids any new government from abandoning projects of his predecessor. This has drastically reduced abandoned projects in Ekiti State. Apart from this, Ekiti 6th Assembly has passed many bills aimed at protecting women and girl-child against rape and domestic violence through the enactment of the Gender Based Violence ( Prohibition) Law 2011, 2019, Ekiti State Sexual Violence against Children (Compulsory treatment and Care) Law, 2020.
The composition of the Assembly is also noteworthy. Honourable members of the Ekiti State House of Assembly are experienced and retired professionals like Civil Servants, Lawyers, media practitioners, bankers etc. This has reflected in the quality of debates on bills before they are passed into law. Our plenaries and parliamentaries are full of robust debates and the end product is that, sound decisions and laws are made. Each honourable member has been able to represent their constituencies well by attracting projects there and trying as much as possible to meet their community and individual requests to the best of their ability. For example, I have been able to attract road rehabilitation projects to my constituency because this is what many
people can benefit from. I have been able to attract the Ilupeju-Ire-Igbemo-Ijan road which had been in a bad state in the last 20 years, the Iworoko-Igbemo road, I have been able to facilitate through a meeting with BEDC, the restoration of electricity to 6 communities in my constituency which had been in darkness for 9 months. I had repaired about 25 boreholes across the constituency. I have been able to secure pensionable employment for more than 12 youths from my constituency, sent over 20 youths for training at Industrial Training Fund and other training programmes in various skills like tiling, aluminium fabrication, fashion designing, catering etc. I paid counterpart fund for the construction of an examination hall in Oloketuyi memorial Grammar School, Igbemo-Ekiti. It is a community project in my town sponsored by the world bank through the Ekiti State Development Agency (EKSCIDA). I have been able to assist many individuals
financially and materially in my own little way just like my colleagues have done in their own constituencies. It has been tough, but exciting.
ND:.What led to the power struggle between the house leadership and the suspended ‘speaker’?
I won’t call it power struggle per se but the inordinate ambition of an individual who was able to mislead few unsuspecting members in his mission. It is good that the Honourable members so misled have now retraced their steps and are back in the fold. Peace has also returned to the house.
What really happened was that the impeached and suspended Speaker is a power monger whose life ambition is to become Speaker. There is nothing bad about this but what is bad is the way he went about it in a ruthless and heartless
manner. Before the demise of Rt. Hon Funminiyi Afuye, Hon. Aribisogan as Leader of Government Business had recruited few Honourable members to start planning the impeachment of the Speaker and Deputy Speaker (myself). This was as far back as March this year. The reason he gave was that it was the turn of Northern Senatorial District to produce the Speaker. Late Afuye is from the Southern Senatorial District. So if Afuye had not died, Aribisogan would have attempted to impeach him and myself and change the entire leadership as later events turned out to be. Please note that Hon. Aribisogan was suspended by the 5th Assembly during Governor Fayose regime for the same allegation of trying to impeach the Speaker and the Governor. He was suspended for about two years before he was rehabilitated by then Governor Kayode Fayemi who admitted him from PDP to APC gave him a return ticket and made
him leader of government business to the annoyance of many people he met in the APC who had worked for the party over the years but the party insisted on his choice and appealed to the aggrieved in his constituency. That was 2019. The tenure of the present Assembly which was inaugurated by Dr. Fayemi on June 6, 2022 expires on June 5, 2023 so it is the term of the South Senatorial district which was truncated by the death of late Speaker Afuye who died on October 19, 2022. The zoning arrangement in Ekiti State is very sacrosanct, the three principal positions of Governor, Deputy Governor and Speaker are zoned into the three Senatorial districts. Also note that Ekiti State from October 16, 2010 when Governor Fayemi reclaimed his mandate through an Appeal Court judgment the tenure of the Executive and Legislature which expired almost at the same time i .e May 29 and June 3-6th respectively became altered, leaving a difference of 8 months between the expiration of the tenure of the Governor in October and that of the legislature which he inaugurated in June. This also made Ekiti election an off season or isolated election. Since then, the problem of changing the leadership of the house to reflect the zoning arrangement whenever a new Governor is sworn in started. It also gave political demagogues charlatans, and over ambitious politicians the opportunity to hide under this to cause a change of leadership in the house. However the truth of the matter is that this argument is fraudulent as the tenure of both the executive and the legislature is the same, the difference of 8 months in the expiration notwithstanding. The problem of change leadership in the house of Assembly is more pronounced when a Governor from another party succeeds the incumbent. This was witnessed in October 2010 when Governor Fayemi succeeded Governor Segun Oni. The leadership of the house of Assembly also changed in November 2014 when Governor Fayose succeeded Governor Fayemi. The Speaker from the APC Rt. Hon. Adewale Ominrin was impeached by 7 members and was replaced by Rt. Hon. Dele Olugbemi who defected with other 6 members to the PDP. This was again witnessed in 2018 October 11, when Governor Fayemi again succeeded Governor Fayose. Rt. Hon. Kola Oluwawole from the Northern District was impeached and was replaced by Rt Hon. Alagbada from the South Senatorial District but this was a PDP Zoning arrangement which was effected before Governor Fayemi was sworn in on October 16 2018.
In 2022, we are witnessing the same change of leadership syndrome
eventhough this is the first time that a party, the APC won the gubernatorial election back to back thus having an APC Governor succeeding another APC governor. Despite the determination of the APC leadership to stop the high turnover of leadership in the House of Assembly this problem still reared its head because someone who has an inordinate ambition is hell bent on realising it at all costs not minding the zoning arrangement of the party. If the zoning arrangement should be jettisoned as he wanted to do I have a more legitimate claim to the Speakership because I am next to the Speaker in rank and my claim would have been more understandable but I chose to toe the party line and remained Deputy Speaker to maintain the party zoning formula . The party leadership comprising of former governors, the present governor, three former deputy governors, party elders and chairman of the party invited us to a meeting where they explained that the South Senatorial district be allowed to complete the tenure of late Rt. Hon Afuye. So a female Honourable member from Emure constituency of the South Senatorial District, Hon. Olubunmi Adelugba was the preferred candidate after considering all factors and more so, she was a principal officer the Chief Whip of the House. We all agreed there, to toe the party line only for Aribisogan to defy the party by recruiting other members to nominate him on the day of election of the Speaker on November 15, 2022.
ND:.Would you say the house is right to have impeached Hon Aribisogan who is deemed to have won the election after the demise of the Rt Hon Funminiyi Afuye?
Hon: Yes, the house is very right to have impeached Rt. Hon Aribisogan. In the first place, his purported victory was s hoax as the process that produced him was heavily compromised. We later discovered through the ad hoc committee set up to investigate the events leading to the rancorous aftermath of his purported victory that Aribisogan and others compromised that election. The effect of this was that as many as 17 honourable members started complaining that the result of that election was not their wish and their constituencies started asking them questions. This led to tension that made the police to shut the Assembly. Before the Assembly was shut on Wednesday November 16, 17 honourable members have met, signed a notice of impeachment and later set up a adhoc committee on Friday 18 which discovered that Aribisogan and others have been sabotaging the passage of the supplementary budget as leader of government business and as Speaker, he also brought in heavily armed thugs to the Chambers on the day of election, that he compromised the process of the election that produced him and also brought in marabouts to desecrate the Assembly at odd hour of 2.00am on Tuesday. He was subsequently served impeachment notice same Wednesday, adjourned to parliamentary on Friday 18 and plenary to Monday November 21 when 17 members impeached him. The house presently comprised of 25 members. The house immediately conducted a fresh election and elected Rt. Hon. Olubunmi Adelugba who emerged unopposed.
ND:. Has the assembly not set a precedent by its action in impeaching the speaker elected by majority moreso when the new Speaker was defeated by him. Was any process violated in his election?
Hon:Now that the whole world have seen that the election that produced Aribisogan was a sham which the house has corrected to restore sanity to the house and the integrity of the legislature. The impeachment and suspension of Aribisogan and 6 others have restored peace to the house and reinforced the long held sacred maxim that the party is Supreme. The tension is gone and the business of the house is running smoothly. The new Speaker, Rt. Hon. Olubunmi Adelugba has presided over many parliamentaries and plenaries with majority of Honourable members. Four of the erring suspended members have apologised and they have been pardoned and reabsorbed after reading their letters of apology at plenary. Two others are now pleading to be reabsorbed and we have told them to follow due process like others while three have gone to court with Aribisogan as arrowhead.
ND:. The house has recalled its suspended members. Is this part of reconciliation process especially by the intervention of the royal fathers in the state?
Hon:Yes, it is . Let me also say that Ekiti revered traditional rulers has waded in and having listened to both sides they have discovered Aribisogan had no legal claim to Speakership having defied the party’s zoning arrangement and emerging with a doubtful election. He claimed that 15 members voted for him but he only came with only one member to the palace of Ewi of Ado Ekiti when Honourable members were invited over the crisis while 17 members were on the side of the new Speaker Rt. Hon Adelugba. The traditional rulers having seen this, advised Aribisogan to withdraw his case from court and join his colleagues after fulfilling all conditions for readmittance and pardon. This obviously did not go well with him as he has refused to withdraw the case from court. As I write, there are now 21 members on the side of Rt. Hon. Adelugba with herself making 22 while Aribisogan has only 2 others making 3. Two others who are with Aribisogan are still begging to be reabsorbed so if their request is granted after meeting all conditions, Aribisogan may be alone. The house has definitely laid a good precedent by establishing and reiterating party Supremacy and discipline as well as restoring the integrity of the house.
ND:. What do you consider to be the main issue(s) facing governance in Ekiti State
now?
Hon:The main issue facing governance in the State is Finance. Ekiti receives second lowest amount of statutory allocation from the federations account. Despite this, the immediate past government of Governor Fayemi and that of present Governor Biodun Oyebanji have tried to give the people dividends of democracy and have not owed workers salary. Governor Oyebanji being part of the Fayemi government has been able to take off from where the former administration stopped. The goodwill of International partners have been of tremendous help to the present administration. Another issue facing governance is bad roads especially the interstate link roads which are mostly federal roads. Also some internal roads in the state capital are bad but are receiving attention.
The issue of insecurity is also there as this is affecting agricultural production as farmers are afraid to go to their farms, but the government is seriously working to tackle this security concern which has gone down drastically in the last two months.
ND:.There has been increase in banditry and kidnapping in the South West especially Lagos -Ibadan expressway,is your assembly contemplating getting other states to enable more powers to the Security network ,Amotekun.
Security is everybody’s business. Let me commend the latest effort of Governors Seyi Makinde and Biodun of Oyo and Ogun States respectively for deploying over 30 patrol teams on the Lagos- Ibadan Expressway and deployment of drones to expose kidnappers and bandits. In Ekiti
State, Governor Oyebanji is doing a lot for Amotekun whom he had been relating well with when he was Secretary to the State Government. Of late, the activities of kidnappers and bandits have gone down drastically in the state. Ekiti Amotekun in conjunction with other security agencies like the police, DSS, Civil Defence, even local hunters is doing a good job though we still need to encourage them to do more. The committee on Security and Special Duties in the house of Assembly have interacted with the security agencies especially Amotekun on many occasions and we discovered they are really working and we have tried to address some of the issues hindering their operations .
ND:. Why are some states in the region against local government autonomy considering that the region has been in the forefront of restructuring the country.
My simple response to this as a student of Federalism is that I align with the position of the States that are against local government automomy because it vitiates the federal principle. I am yet to see a truly Federal state where the local government is an independent tier of government. Federalism only recognises the existence of a Central government and the federating units which are the States. The life and death of a Local government is in the hands of a State government and anything short of this, is a deviation from Federalism.
ND: Could constitutional amendment by both the National Assembly and various state legislatures in the country address the agitations by various separatist movements?
Hon: Yes I believe so. We are amending the constitution in the first place because it is defective. It is no longer the true Federalism we knew as contained in the 1963 constitution which enabled the regions to develop at their own pace. This is why it was possible for the Western region to have television station before France! The present amendments aimed at establishing state police, granting more resources to the states, review of revenue allocation formula and others as contained in the 1963 constitution will douse separatist agitations because what we have presently is over centralisation of power in the centre. The federal government needs to be unbundled as the overbearing influence of the central government is choking the constituent units and this is against the principle of Federalism.
ND:. Is there the possibility of resolving the crisis in the state assembly without resort to court regarding the intervention of some eminent lawyers who are indigenes of the state.
Hon:As explained earlier, traditional rulers have intervened but I cannot honestly describe the press release of our respected eminent lawyers as an intervention because unlike the role of the traditional rulers, they did not give the other side an opportunity to state their side of the story before issuing that press release and thus runs contrary to the principle of fair hearing and justice. Be that as it may, it is the the constitutional right of any aggrieved individual go to court. So while we welcome an out of court settlement by suspended members some of whom have been readmitted after fulfilling the conditions for such, we cannot stop those bent on going to court from doing so.
ND:. What can you point to as the major achievement of the house in the last four years?
Hon: I have answered this question earlier in this interview but let me add that the achievement of the house I consider major is our primary assignment of law making. I am fulfilled that apart from joining my colleagues to pass about 90 bills into law, one of the bills was a private member bill sponsored by me and which was signed into law by Governor Fayemi in October 2021. The bill is titled ” Ekiti State Food Security Law” 2021. A LAW TO ENSURE FOOD SECURITY BY MAKING PROVISIONS FOR ACTIVE PARTICIPATION IN AGRICULTURE BY POLITICAL AND CAREER OFFICE HOLDERS (OTHERWISE KNOWN AS “OWN A FARM PROJECT”) AND OTHER RELATED MATTERS, 2021.
There is the need to add that until the death of Rt. Hon. Afuye, the Ekiti state house of Assembly was the most peaceful, stable and productive in Nigeria but we are back on track.
Another major achievement of the house is following religiously our legislative agenda part of which is making the impact of the 6th Assembly felt by the populace who elected us. We have established a women development centre and an Information dissemination centre.
The 6th Assembly has intervened in many cases of individuals and organisations with one issue or the other and had made useful recommendations in form of resolutions to the government. The house has intervened in the Industrial strike action embarked upon by workers and University lecturers and these were resolved.
The house through its various committees performing oversight functions has been
able to put many MDAs on their toes to make sure the agenda of government is followed and the budgetary provision approved for expenditure is judiciously utilised.
ND:. Face with the choice, will you remain in the legislature or crossover to the executive?
Hon:I have come to realise that the legislature has a lot to do in the life of any executive branch of government and the experience has been exciting, interesting and rewarding. I love to continue with the legislature to gain more experience and this is why I contested and won the primaries of my constituency for a return into the House of Assembly in the next dispensation. However, whenever the opportunity presents itself for me to serve at the Executive arm of government, I will
be delighted to do so as this will enable me to have both experiences at the cabinet level of the executive. I was Senior Special Assistant to Governor Fayemi on Research and Documentation from 2010- 2014.
ND:. Finally, do you miss the newsroom, given the fact that you were one of those that wrote for Independent Newspapers Limited on weekly basis?
Haaa! You can say that again. I miss the newsroom as a columnist though I still write articles occasionally but not as frequently as when i was with Daily Independent Newspapers as a regular columnist. I also miss the classroom as a teacher in the University. I am currently running my PhD programmes at Ekiti State University in the area of Peace, Conflict and Security Studies. I am in my second year but the ASUU strike has also affected me. I have finished my course work and currently writing my proposal.
