By
Managing Editor
_________________________
Members of Zamfara State House of Assembly had allegedly ganged up against the state Governor Dauda Lawal over his deliberate refusal to settle their entitlements.
One of the members of the state House of assembly who spoke to the Managing Editor of this medium over the issue in confidence explained that the decision to draw a battle line with the Governor became eminent when members realized that the Governor was planning to shortchange them over payment of their entitlements.
He said since the inception of the government, Governor Dauda Lawal has paid them their monthly allowances once and most unfortunately he downsized the figure by about (15%) lower than their usual approved figure.
“Since inception the Governor paid us our allowances once and instead of paying us the usual sixty million naira he paid us only fifty million naira” the members added.
The member added that the reluctantness of the previous assembly to demand for what is due to them cost most of the members serious problem; hence the last administration of Bello Matawalle is owing each member nothing less than nineteen million naira.
“As I speak with your majority of our former members are facing serious problems due to non settlement of debt incurred and this has caused many of them to either disposed the only residential houses they owned or face the threat of being imprisoned by their debtors”.
UNDERSTANDING THE GENESIS OF THE DISAGREEMENT
The lawmaker in confidence informed this medium that their fear is that when they allow the Governor of Zamfara Dauda Lawal to continue the way hestarted, it will reach a point when the lawmakers would be treated like beggars by the executive arms of the government.
He said their demand is for the Governor to release their entitlements so that they would be able to address fundamental issues as lawmakers and have a conducive working environment to work as legislatures.
He said since when the Governor paid them N50M as against N60M as their monthly imprest, the Governor has not yet responded to the single demand from the legislatures.
He added“ we have come together eighteen of us to ensure that our entitlements and what is due to us has been released as at when due, hence the experience of the past may not be allowed to repeat itself”.
FORUM OF (18) OTHER MEMBERS HAS BEEN CONSTITUTED IN ZMHA
The lawmaker informed this medium that considering the experience of the past, eighteen other members who are not part of the principal officers decided to come together and constitute a forum that will be like a pressure group.
He said the forum is non-political hence both members of the PDP and APC have unanimously agreed to form the forum in defense of their entitlements.
“If you exclude the principal officers, the remaining eighteen of us have come together to establish a forum in defense of the integrity of the legislatures”.
“ We have chosen our Chairman, Vice Chairman and Secretary, and we have accepted that their leadership should drive the way forward for us”.
“Our Chairman, Kabiru Dangulbi is from the PDP, and we have also selected others and our loyalty to their leadership is unshakable. Whatever direction they have provided to us, we shall follow that path”.
THE HOUSE RULE ALLOW US TO SELECT SPEAKER PRO-TEMPO IF THE SITUATION WORSENS
The lawmaker interviewed by this medium stated that, if the leadership of the house refused to work toward getting things done as provided for, they have the right to decided and elect a “speaker pro-tempo”.
He stated that if the leadership of the house refused to act and ensure that the executive arm do what is necessary, we may resort to taking the next step of selecting a temporary leadership for the house.
“The house standing rule empowers us to select from the floor members a Speaker Pro-tempo who shall lead the house if the current leadership refused to act as requested”.
“We will give the leadership enough time to reach out to the executive Governor and get him realize that, he needs to release what is due for the legislatures and if that is not done we shall retire back and take other appropriate decisions”.
“We have met on Monday throughout the night to Tuesday and strengthened our position, and we have resolved that no more legislative work until our demands are met”.
WE HAVE DROP SECURITY TRUST FUND BILL UNTIL OUR DEMANDS ARE MET.
The lawmaker in his conversation with the Managing Editor of this medium said the Governor is keenly interested in having the security trust fund bill passed by the members of the state house of assembly and that the members are not willing to work on the bill anymore.
“Remember he has mobilized us to go to Kaduna and work on the Security Trust Fund bill, and he gave us enough money, but we are not willing to do anything on the bill until our demands are met”.
“You know the Governor has a special interest in the bill. He has mapped out his options and as I speak to you he is too enthusiastic to get the support of the international community against the insecurity ravaging the state, but we have resolved to step it down”.
“If he can address our demands we will continue to work on the bill, and if he refuses , we shall not work on it anymore”.
WE HAVE NO BUSINESS WITH THE LIST OF NOMINEES FOR THE POST OF COMMISSIONERS.
The lawmaker informed this medium that the members are not willing to do anything with the list of nominees for the post of commissioners which is to be sent for screening; hence members are not willing to do anything under this current situation.
He also said not only the list of the Commissioners, members have resolved that they would not entertain the list of the council sole administrators to be sent for screening.
“You know, the Governor is ready to forward to us the list of Commissioners and council sole administrators for screening, and we are not ready to do that because the Governor is not fair to us”.
“We will attend to the lists to be sent if our entitlements are settled and if that is not done the executive arm should forget it “.
SPEAKER ZMHA PLEAD WITH US TO LOWER DOWN TILL MONDAY NEXT WEEK
The state lawmaker informed this medium that after their meeting overnight, the Speaker of the state House of Assembly, Hon. Bilyaminu Moriki pleaded with them to suspend whatever action they wanted to institute until Monday when consultations are concluded with the Governor.
“He said he will do everything possible to ensure that the Governor has urgently addressed the demands of the lawmakers before things get out of hands”.
“If by Monday he has failed to secure the audience of the Governor and get our demands addressed, we shall decide to take the next line of action.
