APC directive on executive bills blockage good for democracy---Fashola
(Nigeria) Governor
Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State on Monday said the directive by the All
Progressive Congress, APC, directing its lawmakers to block executive bills was
good for democracy.
The governor spoke with newsmen after inaugurating the
Ejigbo-Ajao Estate Link Bridges in Lagos.
He said that the planned blockage was nothing more than the
use of legislative weapon to achieve some democratic gains.
According to Fashola, the planned blockage of executive
bills is aimed at promoting the ideals of democracy and is only being
misinterpreted by critics.
The governor said that the lawmakers had the constitutional
right to use blockage of bills for developmental purposes in line with the
democratic essential of check and balances.
He noted that there was nothing abnormal about the plan as
every arm of government had the right to act as a check on the other.
``In the process of that check, institutionally, the
legislature has found as a legitimate weapon, the withdrawal of cooperation
from the executive, to bring the executive back on the negotiation table.
``Nobody can claim ownership of Nigeria, so when everything
else fails, legislators can resort to the withdrawal of cooperation to achieve
some democratic gains.
``Even, when the PDP had full legislative majority, the
parliament employed the same weapon. We have examples in the delay of the
passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill by the party for three years now, and no
one seems to know why.
``The same party in the majority returned the budget, and
you know how the budget came back to the National Assembly. These are clear
examples of withdrawal of legislative cooperation.
``In all these cases, we did not hear the PDP saying that
democracy was going to be truncated. Then, how can the same weapon be seen now
as an attempt to truncate democracy?" Fashola asked.
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