The House of Representatives, National Assembly of Nigeria, has distanced itself from “any matter relating to the Benue and Zamfara State Houses of Assembly.”
Speaker of the House, Rt. Hon. Tajudeen Abbas, in acknowledging receipt of the petition submitted by the Conference of Speakers of State Legislatures of Nigeria, refuted claims that the House directed its committee on Public Petitions to preside over any matter relating to the Benue and Zamfara State Houses of Assembly.
It emerged earlier in the month that the lower chamber of the National Assembly, through its committee on Public Petitions, had summoned Mr. Dauda Dare, Governor of Zamfara State, and Fr. Hyacinth Alia, Governor of Benue State, along with the leadership of their Houses of Assembly, to appear before the Committee on Thursday, 8th May, to explain why their functions should not be taken over by the House of Representatives.
The decision was said to follow a petition written by a civil rights organisation, Guardians of Democracy and Rule of Law, urging the House of Representatives to take over the functions of the two Houses of Assembly.
However, Speaker Abbas, in a correspondence to the Conference of Speakers of State Legislatures of Nigeria, said, “the House of Representatives regrets any misunderstanding” the committee’s action may have caused.
According to the letter, which is signed by Prof. Jake Dan Azumi, Chief of Staff to the Speaker and copied to the committee chairman, Rt. Hon. Abbas reiterated the “unwavering commitment to the autonomy of the state legislature, as enshrined in the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”
The Benue Assembly had rejected the summons, asking the Speaker, Rt. Hon.. Aondona Dajoh is not to appear.
