OPEYEMI Bamidele, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters, has condemned the recent actions of Godwin Obaseki, Governor of Edo State against the State House of Assembly, describing the actions as unlawful, subversive and a damning threat to democracy.
Bamidele who made this known in a statement by his media office on Sunday, stressed that the continued onslaughts on members of the Edo State House of Assembly by the should be condemned and resisted by all lovers of democracy, noting that the legislature is an integral and critical component of democracy everywhere around the world.
He maintained that the deliberate and inordinate sabotage of the legitimate activities of the lawmakers in the state legislature was a direct invitation to anarchy that must be promptly halted before the situation gets out of hand.
The lawmaker pointed out that the legislature, because of its representative power in a democracy, is the mirror of the will of the the people.
”The legislature is the chief means of expressing popular will, a body that can speak on behalf of, and for, the people,” Bamidele said.
“It is, therefore, the assembly of the people’s minds and the general will of the populace within a polity”.
He emphasized that the desperation of the state governor to secure a second term in office should not be allowed to desecrate, destroy and totally subvert the legislative institution in Edo State.
Bamidele maintained that democratic sustainability demands that political players should moderate and caution their political behaviours in order to safeguard the sanctity of democracy and institutions of democratic governance, adding that throwing caution to the wind by gladiators may likely jettison survival of democracy and the genuine desires and aspirations of the people.
While imploring the civil society community and other stakeholders of the political process in Nigeria to prevail on Obaseki to allow members of the Edo State House of Assembly resume their constitutional duties without further delay, the lawmaker noted that the continued debarring the Edo State lawmakers from performing their legislative functions as required by law is not only a contempt against the wishes of the good people of Edo State but also a gross violation of the 1999 constitution, as well as a punitive expedition against democratic governance in Nigeria.
He, therefore, urged Governor Obaseki to rescind his actions in the interest of peace and tranquility in the state.
'Niyi worked with The ICIR as an Investigative Reporter and Fact-checker from 2020 till September 2022. You can shoot him an email via [email protected]. You can as well follow him on Twitter via @niyi_oyedeji.