Governor Applauds Political Diversity Of Enugu State Lawmakers
The Enugu State Governor, Peter Mbah has applauded the political diversity of the yet-to-be inaugurated 8th Enugu State House of Assembly.
He stated that the diverse political party composition of the members-elect indicated the political effervescence that the state has come to be bequeathed with.
Mbah spoke on Thursday while declaring open a three-day induction/workshop for the state Assembly members-elect in Enugu.
The 24 members-elect comprise 14 members from the Labour Party (LP) as against 10 elected under the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Represented by his deputy, Ifeanyi Ossai, the Governor congratulated the members-elect, saying that “their victories evidenced their determination to serve the state.”
Ossai said; “For the past 27 years that Enugu state has existed, no parliament in the state has been lucky to be richly endowed with the political diversity as your parliament,” disclosing that Governor Mbah wants a constructive partnership with the legislature.
He noted that the workshop was to equip the members-elect with the necessary tools needed to execute the constitutional assignment which they were elected to do and which the Mbah-led administration is eager to partner with the state legislature.
He continued: “Peter Mbah offers a constructive partnership with the parliament and we will do whatever is required to ensure that the partnership is sustained. We came up with the mantra of disruptive innovation and the Governor is making an effort to infuse the executive arm with the intellectual energy needed so that our people will be happy at the end of the day because there is capacity with the Governor to navigate the process and the process is to make a pathway to the great Enugu, the apex development that we need to develop the state.”
He enjoined in-coming lawmakers to join hands with the Executive arm in its determination to further develop the state.
Earlier, the Clerk of the State House of Assembly, Dr. Emma Udaya said that there was a need to improve on the achievements of the past 7th Assembly in the new 8th Assembly, which was one of the reasons for the workshop.
Udaya also dispelled that there was a plot to inaugurate the new Assembly unconstitutionally, stating that the House inauguration is a constitutional matter with instruments that are used in the first sitting of every House.
“Everything that will be done will be done transparently and in the chamber of the House, and so I don’t know where that rumour originated. I never held any meeting with His Excellency; he never muted anything like that. So, I was surprised to hear and see such publications going everywhere,” the clerk said.
In the case of how the leadership of the house will emerge, Udaya said, “All things that will be done in the inauguration are contained in the set of rules called standing order, and that set of rules stipulated how to conduct the first sitting; how to elect presiding officers of the House and that standing order is an offshoot of the constitution which in section 101 provides that every State House of Assembly reserves the right to develop some set of rules to guide the affairs of the House.”
