By; IYOKPO J. EGBODO, Abuja.
Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Yakubu Dogara yesterday lamented over the current spate of impeachment of speakers of state Houses of Assembly, saying the nation’s democracy may be under threat if nothing was urgently done.
Dogara while welcoming members back from the Christmas and New Year break in his address of welcome to his colleagues yesterday, as the House resumed from the Yuletide break, stressed that ugly development posed great danger the country’s democracy.
“The recent spate of impeachment of Speakers of Houses of Assembly of States gives cause for grave concern.
“While we recognize the constitutional right of the legislature to conduct its internal affairs including the right to hire and fire it’s leadership, it presents a different scenario where such leadership hiring and firing is rife with accusations and insinuations of external influence and also devoid of extant procedure.”
“Leaders everywhere can only function efficiently where there is certainty that commendation is the reward for good leadership and sanction the consequence of inept leadership” the Speaker noted.
Speaking further, he said the legislature would not fold hands and watch. “Already, the House Committee on the Review of the 1999 Constitution is considering bills that will grant financial autonomy to the state Houses of Assembly”, he said.
