By Emma Una

CALABAR—Mr John Lebo,  Speaker of Cross River State House of Assembly, has said that there was no law  or provision in  Nigeria’s Constitution  that empowers  the  state House of Assembly to stop the governor of  state, Senator Ben Ayade,  from travelling and  staying  as long as he wants without handing over to his deputy.

The Speaker, who addressed online journalists in Calabar on the agitation by some persons in the state that the governor travels too often and  sometimes  stays for over 30 days without  handing over to his deputy,   said that government’s responsibility is not a task for an individual and as such,  whether the governor was in the state or not, government programmes will go on as planned.

“The controversy  in the state is that the governor has been away without handing over to his deputy. The Constitution is very clear on when the governor should handover to his deputy and that is when he is incapacitated and cannot perform his duties  and not when he travels to perform official functions and  to sign  Memorandum of Understanding, MOU,  to bring investment to the state. If he has to handover every time he travels, then he cannot be regarded as a governor,” Lebo said.