Hon. Solomon Akpulonu, a former Majority Leader of Abia State House of Assembly, in this interview, speaks on the raging controversy in the House where the minority Labour Party produced the Majority Leader. Akpulonu accuses Governor Alex Otti of trying to foist a rubber stamp legislature on the state, among other issues. Excerpts:

By Ugochukwu Alaribe, Umuahia

Why is the PDP staging walkout in Abia State House of Assembly?

The caucus of the PDP met and agreed on certain things about the House. So, we went into the chambers. During our proceedings, we saw that the Speaker announced some names as principal officers. On Friday, we didn’t sit because the Speaker wanted to announce the minority party and the majority party. There was chaos and the House adjourned abruptly.

We didn’t know that they finally entered it and those names were announced in our votes and proceedings. When it came to time for the adoption of votes and proceedings of the last sitting, we made observations and told the Speaker to expunge that particular paragraph. But the Speaker overruled us and we staged a walk-out because what happened was not the true position of things. We can never be involved in such a charade.

It’s unfortunate that the Speaker and the Labour party insists that the minority should produce the majority leader while the PDP,which is the majority party should produce the minority leader. In the House, the majority leader does a lot of work. He’s the leader of government business and the chairman of the rules and business of the house. So, automatically we’ll be working under the speaker and it’ll be an abnormality for the PDP to relinquish what is rightly ours and support what’s wrong.

What will the PDP do next if the Speaker fails to announce you as the majority party?

As for what we’ll do, we’ve already headed to the court. We’ll file a pre action suit and what we are asking the court to do is to interpret what is in our rules, precisely order 8, rule 42. That particular rule said a majority leader shall be nominated from the party that has the majority of members in the House of Assembly. We want the court to interpret that simple rule for us. We are not going to court against anybody but we want that rule interpreted. Also, we are going to refer to what happened on the 14th of June during the inauguration of the House. We will present how everything happened and whether it was right for a non-ranking member to become the speaker based on the rules of the House and fifth alteration of the constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria, Section 311.

Do you have the support of your party in this move?

The 11 members of the PDP in the state House of Assembly has signed the suit. The PDP as a political party has equally signed the suit. This is what we must do. The truth is that they have been poaching PDP lawmakers. They started even before the inauguration of the House. The Labour Party did all they could to get the Speaker position. They were desperate for it. The Labour Party tried to even arrest some of us including me on trumped up charges. But I’m so unhappy that it didn’t happen. I would have been very happy if they had arrested those of us they plotted to arrest especially me.

They have been poaching our people and you know some of our members are new and there are certain rules and things they do not know concerning the workings of the House. I don’t see anything they’ll benefit from aligning with the Labour Party. They have tried to convince some of our members to accept the position of a Minority leader while our party is the majority party.

The members they approached rejected the offers. Now, I can assure you that none of our members will align with them. Let me also tell you that the Labour Party is in court with everybody. How can you align with Labour party to produce the majority leader when they are the minority party ?PDP is a party of rules. And what we are asking for is what belongs to us.

With does this portend for democracy in the state , especially with the new Labour party Government?

The attitude of the Labour Party is anti-democracy. On the day of our inauguration, they tried to perpetrate this undemocratic act which they’re finally showing. In the order paper, item number seven, they listed announcement of principal officers on that same day. So, when I started agitation, a former speaker of the Assembly, Chief Stanley Ohajuruka, approached me and asked what was wrong and I told him that the Speaker and clerk want to announce the list of principal officers of the House. He went there and told them that those positions are party positions.

That was why they didn’t announce it on that day. I have advised the current Speaker, that I know he’s not well experienced with all due respect to him because he’s just coming. I have advised him to consult other former speakers and speakers of different state House of Assembly he knows so that they can guide him on his duties. If you look at the way Governor Alex Otti has started, there are certain things he has not done well. Look at the sacking of permanent secretaries, the sacking of a Director where we have a plethora of cases where the court has frowned at Governors who tried such things in the past. Even though as a Governor you have the power to appoint permanent secretaries, the law is clear that you can’t just wake up and sack them because they are special people. Those who tried it before saw the judgment of the Industrial Court against such.

The court made it clear in such cases that they can’t be sacked without going through the Civil Service Commission, giving them queries and investigating them. You cannot just wake up and sack them. These are abnormalities we’re witnessing in Abia today under the Labour party government. However, because the government is new and I think they’re learning, but with the way things are going within these first few months, if this government does not retrace its step, one can comfortably say that democracy is in danger in Abia. As the caucus Chairman of the PDP, I’m the leader of the opposition, so anything that this government does wrong, I’ll criticize constructively. I’ll do my job without fear and favour. I’ll give a robust opposition devoid of malice. Nobody will cage me from doing the right thing. It’s not possible.

With what’s happening now, do you foresee rancour within the House and between Legislators and the executive?

Yes, because we’ve not started well as a House , right from how the Speaker and the Deputy were elected. Everybody saw what happened including the press. However, we expected the leadership of the house to advise themselves. We expected the bureaucracy in the House of Assembly to advise themselves because they are new. The first day didn’t end well. The second day ended badly and the third day the same negative thing and these issues have brought the House into public ridicule.This issue of trying to show that they’re in power now and that they’re labour party will not go down well. We as the opposition, we’re 11 and we’ll continue the agitation until the wrong things are made right. Let them just do the right thing so we can all move forward. I’ve advised them that they cannot run the House as though the PDP members are conquered people. That’s not true. What Labour Party just did a few months ago was to just win an election.

They didn’t conquer anybody and they must understand that victory in an election doesn’t mean the others are conquered people. This is a wrong knowledge to operate with. They didn’t conquer us and cannot treat us like conquered people. That’s not going to happen. They cannot intimidate us at all. If they like, let them continue on this lane, but it’ll not go well as they’re going against every rule.

Since the PDP walked out during the screening of Commissioner nominees, can you say they’ve been screened?

Well, it can be said that the Labour Party has screened them. How many of the people sitting there that day know what it means to screen a Commissioner nominee? As far as I’m concerned, those Commissioner nominees were not screened. Who among the members there knows what screening means? It’s their party and as far as I’m concerned, the PDP didn’t screen any Commissioner nominee.

With this crisis brewing heavily in the Abia legislative house, what do you think the effect will be on ordinary Abians?

That’s exactly why we’re shouting now so that tomorrow Abians will not blame the PDP. We want Abians to speak up and stand for the truth now. Our party is shouting now, exposing what’s happening now so that nobody will rise tomorrow and throw unnecessary blames. We all want the government to succeed and make Abia better, but they cannot achieve anything by shortchanging others with illegal processes. Abians should come in now, see what we’re saying and understand us because we’re only asking that the right thing should be done. I cannot be a legislator that will not want my state to move forward. When you continue to agitate for your right and the other party does not take you seriously, one day there could be chaos. I’m the highest ranking member of the House ,I have been in the House for a long time and I’ve never seen this type of abnormality before. We’re supposed to act like a family, but they’re telling us to go to hell. We’re calling Abians to see what’s happening now. The Assembly should not be a place to play party dominance. It should be a family where every party gets what’s due for them, not a place to shortchange people and still blame them for asking for their rights. Abians should see what we’re saying now. We don’t want any problem, we want to work for Abia. Some people said former Governor, Okezie Ikpeazu didn’t do well, but by my point, he did his best to put the state where it is today. Now, this new Governor has come, it’s our duty to help him do better than Ikpeazu and push Abia better than where Ikpeazu left it. Nobody wants to remain permanently at a point of certain success. We all want more success. Abia must come first in all we do, but it must be done properly.

Do you see quality bills emanating from the House considering that all those in the leadership are greenhorns?

I’ll always wish them well and pray they learn fast for the good of our state because to me, it’s Abia first. However, this is why in every developed democracy in this world, you’ll see a legislator who spends so many years in the assembly because of the experience he or she has. Those people who are developed know why they keep returning such experience people. Lawmaking required experience. I think they’re learning fast and by God’s grace, they’ll learn. You can’t remove experience from lawmaking and the quality of its outcome. For instance, those who screened the Commissioner nominees, what kind of questions do you expect from them on something they’ve never done or seen how it’s done before to help Abia people? Experience counts in everything and you know it’s true.
We are agitating. And we’re doing it the right and most lawful way. We don’t need to fight. All we need is to agitate in the right way which is to walk out to prove we are not in support of certain actions we’ve been witnessing. We’re doing our agitation in a more mature way having known that even Mr Speaker’s hands are tied. We know he’s very helpless in this situation. But we cannot go against the rules of the House. It is abnormal to say that the other parties in the House has formed a coalition and emerged the majority party. This is wrong and wont be welcome by the PDP.

You alleged that the Speaker’s hands are tied,are you worried that when Abia may have rubber-stamped legislature?

What we are saying is the truth, that’s why I advised our members on the importance of working together to avoid being party to such a charade was for posterity’s sake. Some of our own members are equally new and may not know how to get things done. But they are learning and I hope they learn fast. But be rest assured that nobody will rubber stamp us. We’ll help deepen democracy in Abia State. For a Governor to have insisted on taking the Speaker, Deputy and even all positions that should belong to another party, it means that Governor could be hiding something.He obviously wants a rubber stamp legislature,but we won’t be part of it. Nobody can’t fight a governor, not even the Speaker can try that. So, I don’t know and I don’t understand what the Governor’s fear about. Why all these? He has taken the speaker and deputy,but we won’t allow him to also take the majority party positions which rightly belongs to the PDP. We don’t need strong men,but strong institutions I hope Governor Otti realizes the need for strong institutions ,not just mouthing it,but seen to be acting and complying with the stated laws. This is the only way we can grow our democracy. The whims and caprices of strong men has been the bane of our democracy.

Way forward?

It’s very simple. Let them take what is theirs and give the PDP what’s ours. We even promised the Governor the day we met him that we’ll work with him, we promised him that we’ll not fight him, we promised him that we’ll help him to make Abia succeed. These are the promises we made before him. I don’t understand really what’s happening. So, we’ll not leave these things this way. We have gone to court. In fact, we’ve gone to court to get the real interpretation of our rules.