The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon Tajudeen Abbas was on Thursday urged to wield the big stick on the Speaker of Abia State House of Assembly, Hon Emmanuel Emeruwa for several constitutional breaches.


In a lengthy open letter to the Speaker, the immediate past Commissioner for Trade and Investment, Chief John Okiyi Kalu enumerated several constitutional breaches against the Abia Speaker including refusal to swear in Mr Aaron Uzodike of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) contested the 2023 House of Assembly Election to represent Aba North State Constituency in the Abia State House of Assembly and was declared winner by the Appeal Court in November 2023.



Other constitutional breaches as contained in the letter reads as follows:


OPEN LETTER TO THE RT HON. SPEAKER, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, NATIONAL ASSEMBLY, ABUJA 


WHY ABIA STATE HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY SPEAKER SHOULD BE BARRED FROM HOLDING PUBLIC OFFICE FOR TRAMPLING ON THE CONSTITUTION BY REFUSING TO INAUGURATE HONOURABLE AARON UZODIKE AS A MEMBER OF ABIA STATE HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY


Mr Speaker Sir,


I write this open letter to you as a citizen of Abia State and Nigeria bearing in mind that under Sections 4, 11 (3)   (4), (5), 318 & 319 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the Federal House of Representatives is empowered to take over the legislative functions of a State House of Assembly where there are abiding breaches of the constitution and of such nature that incapacitate the House from constitutionally performing its duties as provided in law.


As I will highlight below, the Speaker of Abia State House of Assembly, Rt Hon Emmanuel Emeruwa, is unable to obey, or is deliberately breaching his oath of office thereby impeding the smooth functioning of the House as enshrined in the laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and, hence, will have to be removed by the National Assembly and/or barred for life from holding any public office in order to avert anarchy, chaos and subversion of democracy in Abia State.


1. According to the 2022 Electoral Act, the highest court for the adjudication of election matters with regard to the legislature both at the federal and state levels is the Appeal Court and whoever wins at that level is expected to enjoy the fruits of his labour, in this case inauguration as a member of the State House of Assembly.


As a highly responsible, law abiding leader and democrat yourself, you have had cause to inaugurate several Members of the Federal House of Representatives whose mandates were restored by the Court of Appeal even when they are not of your political party. This is because you understand not just democratic tenets but also the moral burden leadership has thrust upon your shoulders.


It is however sad to note that it is not the same for the Speaker in Abia State.


2. Mr Aaron Uzodike of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) contested the 2023 House of Assembly Election to represent Aba North State Constituency in the Abia State House of Assembly and was declared winner by the Appeal Court in November 2023. Following on that declaration, he was issued a Certificate of Return by INEC which he presented alongside the CTC of the Appeal Court judgement to the Speaker, Rt Hon Emeruwa. But up to this day,  the Speaker has been acting in gross contempt of the Appeal Court judgement, failing, neglecting, and or refusing to inaugurate Mr Uzodike while citing unlawful extra-judicial orders from Governor Alex Otti who is not a member of the legislative branch of government.


3. To make matters worse, Speaker Emeruwa allegedly connived with Mr Destiny Nwagwu, the member ousted by the Court of Appeal to procure a purported state High Court order directing him not to inaugurate Hon Uzodike even when he ought to know that the Appeal Court is not only a superior court to a state High Court but also the final arbiter in the litigation of electoral matters involving the legislative arm of government.


4. Furthermore, there are rumours that Speaker Emeruwa has continued to pay the Appeal Court-ousted member of the House, Mr Destiny Nwagwu, all emoluments and benefits of a constitutionally recognised legislator using his opaque “security vote” running into millions of naira monthly.


5. As you may be aware, Mr Speaker, Abia State House of Assembly had 11 members of PDP, 10 members of LP, 2 members of YPP and 1 member of APC at inauguration, yet, Mr Emeruwa who is a first time legislator, in violation of the extant rules of the House and working in cahoots with Governor Alex Otti who was physically present in the chamber of the Assembly  to intimidate the PDP members, emerged speaker despite being from a minority party in the House. This development also led to the warped installation of a minority member from the same party as “Majority Leader” against all known democratic norms, rules and conventions.


6.  As a result of the refusal of Speaker Emeruwa to inaugurate Hon Aaron Uzodike, Aba North State Constituency, where I ordinarily reside, does not have any representative at the Abia State House of Assembly thereby denying the people the right to be heard and appropriately rewarded with dividends of democracy after they have suffered to legitimately elect him as their representative and affirmed by the Court of Appeal.


7. As a citizen of Abia State, I have never seen this level of gross disregard for the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and our courts by no less a person than the leader of the legislative branch of government in Abia State who is charged with making laws for the people of the state.


8. I have heard from multiple sources that Mr Uzodike is currently being pressured to accept to take an oath before a pastor with the Bible that if he is ever inaugurated he will not only be subservient but also servile to Governor Alex Otti and Speaker Emeruwa and endorse every piece of legislation brought to the House even if such proposed legislation is injurious to good governance and the society as a whole.


9. As a tax paying citizen of Abia State, I am particularly alarmed that without urgent intervention by the National Assembly via the Federal House of Representatives as led by you, Mr Uzodike might cave in to the pressure thereby joining a section of 'rubber stamp' members of Abia State House of assembly led by their Speaker.


10. Since inauguration, the Emeruwa-led Abia State House of Assembly has reportedly approved at least 3 different commercial loans of N35bn, N50bn and N45bn respectively at very high interest rates without legislative considerations and approval by the lawmakers in session.


It is also public knowledge that the same House gave verbatim approval for the 2024 appropriation proposal presented by Governor Alex Otti including copying and pasting errors like a N1.5bn for 2 Toyota Hilux vehicles entry and allocation of fresh funds to already reconstructed roads in the state such as the Abiriba Junction-Etitiama Nkporo road in Ohafia LGA and Obikabia junction -Umuola road in Aba among several others. 


Mr Speaker Sir, as part of your constitutional duty, you are kindly requested to urgently intervene in this matter to save democracy in Abia State. 


I am aware that Speaker Emeruwa has boasted that he does not only have the support of Governor Alex Otti but also that of the National Assembly members of Labour Party extraction from Abia State to continue to trample upon our laws. Nevertheless, my hope and, indeed, that of all well meaning Abians is that you will stand firm to uphold the rule of law given that your office, as highly regarded as it is, is also a creation of the law.


The danger of a delayed intervention is that members of the constituency that have been denied representation might resort to self-help if nothing is done urgently.


Thank you.

Chief John Okiyi Kalu

Former Commissioner for Information; Trade & Investment, Abia State.

07/03/2024


Cc:

Senate President Godswill Akpabio 

Deputy Speaker Benjamin Kalu

inspector General of Police

Chief Judge of Nigeria

President, Court of Appeal