Rights activist and lawyer, Richard Akinnola has warned the Lagos State House of Assembly over it’s plan to impeach the Governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, saying that the end result could spell doom for the All Progressives Congress(APC) in the State.
Speaking on Thursday on a programme on Channels Television, ‘Politics Today’, monitored by our correspondent, Akinnola called on the lawmakers to exercise caution in order to avert a possible disaster capable of disrupting the peace in the State as well as the forthcoming election.
Submitting that the impeachment brouhaha was politically motivated, Akinnola said though the House has the powers to call the Governor to answer for any alleged misconduct, he said the recent developments could have been resolved without the media attention it had attracted.
“This move by the Lagos State House of Assembly is purely political. You denied the Lagos State Governor a second term bid and he accepted it in good fate. Now with two weeks to the election and four months to the completion of his tenure you want to impeach him.
“Let me tell you something, eventually if this whole process continues, everyone of them will be consumed in the House. Yesterday and today, I was listening to a radio programme and 95 percent of those who called in were very angry with the development. Many of them are in support of the governor. Perhaps, many of the House members are not in tune with what people’s opinions on this issue are; otherwise there will be a serious damage,” Akinnola warned.
He said the allegations of misconduct levelled against the Governor for not presenting the 2019 budget to the House was only a “smokescreen”, adding that the issue of budget presentation were administrative issues that could be sorted out amicably between the two arms without any noise.
He said: “Back in December it was reported that the 2019 Budget was already in the House and was sent in by the Commissioner for Budget and Economic Planning. So perhaps, they wanted him to come physically to present the budget and not through the Commissioner.
“That is why I am saying that this is more than just budget because the budget is already in the House and I read in the papers that the House didn’t deny that it has been presented. So why this issue of ultimatum to defend himself or else he would be served impeachment notice? It doesn’t make any sense.
“It is certain that the Lagos State House of Assembly has the right to take the Governor up on the issue. But the whole thing is that even during Fashola’s period similar things happened where the House had to call the Commissioner for Finance and Budget to come and explain things about the budget. These are mere administrative thing that can be resolved between the House and the Government House.
“I believe everything can still be resolved. It’s a thing between the Speaker and the Governor without much noise.”
Advocating for a peaceful resolution to the impasse, Akinnola said the State could be thrown into chaos with dire consequences as was the case in Rivers and Akwa Ibom States.
“Perhaps, when you talk of impeachment, maybe the Governor does not have the demeanor that is aggressive just like what happened in Port Harcourt years ago where Amaechi walked up to the House and locked it up for one year for such move against him and that of Akwa Ibom as well which happened recently and is still under lock and key. However, we don’t want this to happen in Lagos because this is a State that is supposed to set the pace for others to follow,” he cautioned.