SPEAKER of Lagos State House of Assembly, Mudashiru Obasa, has directed the Clerk, Sanni Azeez, to write a protest letter to the Senate, over a comment by Senator Danjuma Goje.
The House’s resolution was based on a motion moved by Chairman of the House Committee on Information and Security, Tunde Braimoh, over a statement credited to Chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriation, Danjuma Goje, where he reportedly told the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola that the National Assembly is not Lagos House of Assembly.
During the controversy over allocations to Fashola’s ministry, Goje was reported to have said Fashola should not treat the National Assembly as an institution he could control the way he controlled the Lagos Assembly, when he was governor.
Braimoh said: “The senator derogatorily referred to the Lagos State House of Assembly by saying the National Assembly was not Lagos State House of Assembly that could be controlled.
“The statement is derogatory, uncomplimentary and it is an insult on the Assembly. The Constitution does not give the Senate power to superintend the state Assembly.
“All the newspapers reported the story and it is an uncomplimentary and disparaging as well as unparliamentary statement. The contest in which the word was used smacks of slander.”
He said the statement brought the House to public ridicule and that it makes people to feel the House is a rubber stamp, adding that Goje ought to be more civil with words with his status.
He added that if Goje had issues with Fashola, he should sort it out rather than insulting the House.
He pointed out that the National Assembly was more rubber stamp than the Lagos State House of Assembly and that he was disappointed that such a statement could come from a serving senator.
He however, said the House should write the Senate to reprimand the senator on the matter.
“What he said is an insult on the leadership of the House. The Senate should suspend him and we demand an apology from them,” he said.
Other lawmakers such as the Deputy Majority Leader, Olumuyiwa Jimoh, Majority Leader, Sanai Agunbiade, Desmond Elliot and Bisi Yusuf demanded an apology from the lawmaker and the Senate.
The House has also summoned Commissioner for the Environment, Babatunde Adejare and his team of experts, to appear before it, and brief them on efforts the ministry is making to mitigate flooding in the state.
