By Owei Lakemfa
THE 30 states in the country make up the Nigerian entity; logically, unless democratic rule is practiced at this level, there can be no democracy in the country.

This painfully, is  the case; democracy, since its forced leave due to military coups, is yet to return.

At the state level, the people are supposed to be represented by the State House of Assembly, but the reality is that  the assemblies represent, in most cases, the clique that occupies the Government House, or in a few cases, that in Aso Rock.

One fundamental difference between military and civil rule is that unlike in the former, the word of the governor is not supposed to be law. In fact, in a democracy, the governor or the executive do not make laws; that is the prerogative of the parliament.

Unfortunately in most cases today,  the word or thought of the governor is the law; the state assemblies exist primarily  to translate the governor’s utterances or thinking  into law.

In the place of the hallowed chambers are hollow chambers; empty void, better known for their irrelevance to the governance process.

Things are so  bad in most assemblies that even their basic right to elect the Speaker and Deputy Speaker has been mortgaged to the imperial governor.

This level of conscienceless and irresponsible abdication of basic constitutional rights and duties,  like HIV/AIDS, manifest in various forms and their consequences can be quite devastating both in the immediate , short , and ultimately the long run.

The use of the Abia State Assembly as the stage for  comedy  is typical of the assemblies. Governor Theodor Orji had a problem with his party, the PPA; he crossed to APGA and decided to impeach his Deputy, Chris Akomas who was suspected of disloyalty.

The  ‘yes’ Assembly immediately went into over drive. Its impeachment panel first sat on  July 29 to receive the complaint and ordered Akomas to send the names of his witnesses within 40 hours. The Deputy Governor  knew it was a set up and resigned; that did not stop the Assembly from impeaching him, 48 hours later, allegedly for having an affair  with a female staff.

The Adamawa Assembly had claimed that Governor Murtala Nyako had grossly abused his office and looted the state treasury, it therefore began impeachment moves.

The Assembly leadership and Nyako were invited to Aso Rock by the late President Umaru Yar’Adua. Both sides emerged, smiling that the impeachment is off, because the issues (which included alleged wholesale theft of public funds) was “a PDP family affair”.

Now in an apparent struggle for supremacy between Nyako and former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, the Assembly has turned against itself, sweeping away the Speaker,  James Barka and the  Deputy, Isa Ahmed for reasons that were not given.

Bauchi State governor, Isa Yuguda defected from the ANPP to the PDP but his deputy, Alhaji Garba Gadi refused to jump ship. That to Yuguda was an impeachable offence and a pliant assembly got to work. Ironically, for decamping  en mass to the PDP, the assembly had by virtue of Section 109(g) ceased to hold office, but they sat and impeached the Deputy Governor.

The Assembly in Oyo State which had been used by thugs to illegally impeach Governor Rasheed Ladoja remains in a state of war. Recently, a member was thrown or forced to jump from a high floor  building.  The situation in Oyo is far better than that in neighbouring Ogun State whose assembly finds it almost impossible to sit due to the  heated political battles in the state.

When  opposition parties took over power in Ondo and Edo states, the assemblies were fully controlled  by the defeated PDP, within a short period, they saw the light and became controlled by the new ruling parties.

In Lagos State, a group, the True Face of Lagos accused Governor Raji Fashola  and the State Assembly of fraud. Rather than verify the claims, the Assembly  was pronounced innocent and it proceeded to impeach the Governor before the courts stopped it.

Perhaps the most ridiculous abuse of state assemblies was the use of six members(one third) of the  Plateau State Assembly by the Obasanjo government to impeach Governor Joshua Dariye. This is in  pointed violation of Section 188(9) which states that two thirds of a state assembly is required to impeach a governor.

Bayelsa State is on the boil.  Its political crisis which has allegedly claimed 15 lives within the last three weeks  is mainly traceable to the role the State Assembly has played since the former Governor DSP Alamieseigha crisis.

He fled justice in Britain but rather than adopt  legal and constitutional means to deal with the situation, the Obasanjo administration decided to carry out a coup in the state using the Assembly.

The  EFCC abducted the members until they agreed to impeach the governor. Then Deputy Governor, Dr Goodluck Jonathan was elevated governor while  the Speaker, Peremobowei Ebebi was rewarded with the post of Deputy Governor.

In the 2007 election,  Governor Timipreye Sylvia had to retain Ebebi as Deputy, but both men felt superior to each other. When the fight for supremacy boiled over, Sylvia turned to the Assembly to get rid of his deputy, and the Speaker was rewarded with the Deputy Governor’s post.

The war then spread to the streets and communities. On July 23,  the country home of Ebebi was attacked with dynamites while Governor Sylvia ‘s family home in Okpoma was attacked next.  Then on August 2,  the country home of the new speaker, Nestor Binabo at Okunbiri was blown up.

The next day, the home of   a close associate of President Jonathan, Chief A J Turner who is the Chairman of the  Federal Inland Waterways was attacked followed by  the palace of the Amanyanabo of Nembe Kingdom, King Edmond Daukoru  which was sacked on August 10. Sylva had been his personal assistant when the monarch was Petroleum Minister.

If most of the assemblies are a parody and their members are merely political traders and chorus boys, how can Nigeria be a democracy?