The Minority Leader of the Oyo State House of Assembly, Salami Waliu has countered his APC colleague in the parliament, Shittu Ibrahim of Saki West.
Recall that earlier this month, Shittu alleged that the State House of Assembly approved a new N300 billion loan for the Seyi Makinde led government without following due process, including a ‘short invite that did not reach opposition lawmakers.’
However, in an interview widely shared on Facebook followed by OYOINSIGHT.COM, the Minority Leader described this claim as false, noting that all members were duly informed ahead of the sitting in live with the standing rules of the House.
“The issue is beyond the perspective citizens are looking at it from. The House of Assembly is a place to learn and you have to calm down to truly understand how things work there. I’m the Minority leader of the House, meaning that I’m a principal officer. I’m also the chairman of the business and rules committee in the House.
“We are truly on recess but what the House of Assembly is about is numbers. PDP has 28 seats and APC has four seats. There’s nothing four people can do to halt the party with 28 members. Whether we are there or not, they can do anything they want since they have the number.
“For example, you need 2/3 to remove the speaker, that’s 22 lawmakers. PDP has even more than that. The person that holds the gavel is also a member of the PDP; that’s the Speaker. Regarding this loan, the perspective I view it from is different from that of the Saki West local government lawmaker. I’m primarily concerned about development of the state and my constituency.
“Since I became a lawmaker, this is not the first or second time we have approved a loan. Has anyone organised a press conference regarding that before? No. This particular N300 billion, I was not there because we are on recess and I was in Kishi. We got a message on our platform that there will be an emergency sitting. And that’s not a crime. It’s allowed within the business rule. When they called the emergency sitting and presented the message from the Governor.
“During the State of States in June, the Governor came to the House and presented a brief of the work he had done and the projects that need new fund injection. Security is part of the things the Governor said we need money for. The circular road is there too. There’s also the supplementary budget that they presented which indicated that they need new funds and they already told us they will borrow money to be able to fund the supplementary budget.
“I was a member of the committee, including the public accounts committee constitutionally recognised. We passed the supplementary budget on July 29 and it was that they day we embarked on a recess. When they then called for an emergency sitting, they formed a quorum. It’s not about whether other parties should be there or not; it’s about the numbers,” he explained.
