Benue 10th Assembly Not A Rubber Stamp To Gov Alia- lawmaker

From Attah Ede, Makurdi 

The member representing Otukpo/Akpa State Constituency at the Benue State House of Assembly, Mr. Kennedy Angbo has dismissed  the insinuations making the rounds that the 10th State Assembly is a mere “rubber stamp” to the governor, Hyacinth Alia’s led executive in the State .

There have been allegations that the current  crops of  State Assembly  is a mere rubber stamp to the executive with critics, insisting that it did not exercise its role of checking the executive.

But Mr.Angbo in an interview with The Nations News Nigeria in Makurdi at the weekend, said the 10th State Assembly under the leadership of the speaker, Aondona Dajoh, whose legislative year is approaching two years, has so far performed well.

Angbo noted that with all sense of responsibility, the tenth State Assembly is doing well without fear or favor, adding that, the governor does not have his ways all the time with members including all those presently on his side. 

“We were elected same day with him. Same mandate he enjoyed from the people is what we enjoyed too. So, the governor cannot sack any assembly members. 

“I would start by saying if we are a rubber stamp assembly, then people should explain to us what it means by turning down all the requests of the governor up to people he appointed and we said no to them. 

“For example, when the secretary to Benue State Independent Electoral Commission(BSIEC) was appointed by the governor and he made some comments against the people of this state, the Assembly stoop it down until he tendered public apology to the people of Benue.

“Ordinarily if we are rubber stamp, we will jumped over it and not pay attention to it. There have been several cases like that,  but is not everything we must bring to the general public to know because we are one government. 

“You see, what people expect from the assembly all over the world is antagonism.  But what you don’t know is that,  we were in all one ticket. 

“We contested elections whether you are PDP, you won  elections under APC, LP, we came for one administration, our term is together for four  years, from 2023 to 2027. So, it is not about antagonism but even collaboration in making sure that the state get a fair and better deal for the general good of the people. 

“Now, of what good will it be to the people that the governor brings a bill to us and we said no! He say we should do this or that we said no. You the masses and members of the fourth estate of the realm would be the first to call us that we are very wicked set of people. 

“When you say separation of powers, it doesn’t mean fighting or up in arms against the executive. It just means that there is a boundary, a clear demarcation between the jobs, the roles and the descriptions of the assembly or the legislature from the executive. So, we will not allow the executive to dabble into the affairs of the assembly. 

“The executive will not allow the assembly to overreach their boundary.also by doing their jobs for them. That’s why the assembly has its role cutout clearly in the constitution, sections 16, 128, 129. 

“Those are sections that spells out the objective and power of the assembly, what they can do and what they cannot do. Even the judiciary, no arm of government is almighty. We all have our boundaries, where we can act to certain point, we will not go beyond that”, Angbo stated.

He however said  the current tenth assembly remain one of the most assertive assembly who have  fought governor Alia  to bring quality and positive development to the people of the state.

“Like I said, we have fought with the governor on several occasions, we have stalemate but  in the eye of the public, they will not know. There was a time this assembly refused to sit over issues that were unresolved. 

“We have also asked in the past that the executive respect  the wishes of the people because we represents the people. And so, if you called us a rubber stamp, it means we will do whatever the governor ask us to do and in this case, that is not the case.  

“The governor has no power or authority over any lawmakers in the assembly. So, it is full hardy  for anybody to say we are rubber stamp. However, we worked together because we are partners in the development of the state. 

“If there anything that would alter the plan that the governor has, the executive has the right and it is the executive program that is to be implemented not the legislators.

 We are not implementors, we are lawmakers and so, if the governor says that “I want to achieve XYZ”, from example, if the governor says I want to see a harmonized security architecture in Benue State like he did. 

“Suffice to also mentioned that in the assembly, there are three ways you can introduce a bill. An executive bill, private bill and the legislative bill. In all of these, if the governor sent a bill and that bill is in tandem with what we want, we approve it and if it is not, we have the function of oversight to alter it. And I give you example, the budget of 2025 as passed had a little bit of alterations here and there.