Lagos Assembly Moves Against Governor Ambode Over 2019 Budget -May Begin Impeachment Process

Governor Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos State has been summoned to appear before the Lagos State House of Assembly within one week over the 2019 budget, which has caused disagreement between the two arms of government.

It will be recalled that Governor Ambode had sent the 2019 budget to the House in December against the tradition of laying the budget before the House.

The Speaker of the House, Rt. Hon. Mudashiru Obasa told the lawmakers that it was important to give the Governor a fair hearing over the issue involving the Governor and the 2019 Budget.

Obasa stated that there had been violation of the constitution and infractions on the part of the Governor. 

“The Attorney General, Finance Commissioner and Commissioner for Budget and Economic Planning that ought to have advised the Governor did not do so.

“The most important thing is that we should let the people know that a budget that was yet to be approved was being spent, which was why we could not attend to the Governor on the budget on Monday 21, January.

“We must give them a fair hearing to come and explain what happened. 

“The point has been made that there must be something before the House before you can commence expenditure. We want to call on the Governor to come within a week to explain himself along with the affected commissioners.

“We can start gathering signatures for impeachment. We can exercise patience and wait till another time,” he said.

The lawmakers had reacted to a report presented by the Deputy Speaker of the House, Hon. Wasiu Eshinlokun-Sanni as the Chairman of the Committee set up to look into the issues surrounding the 2019 budget during a parliamentary meeting of the lawmakers.

Members of the Committee included Hon. Moshood Oshun, Chairman, House Committee on Public Accounts (State), Hon. Moshood Oshun, Chairman, House Committee on Budget and Economic Planning, Hon. Gbolahan Yishawu, Chairman, House Committee on the Environment, Hon. Dayo Saka-Fafunmi and the Chairman, House Committee on Works and Infrastructure, Hon. Abiodun Tobun.

Eshinlokun revealed that the committee met with relevant commissioners and heads of agencies.

The Deputy Speaker stated that the committee met with the Commissioner For Budget and Economic Planning, Hon. Segun Banjo, who said that no money had been spent in the year.

He said that the Accountant General told the committee that warrant had been issued that they could spend up to 25% of the preceding budget before the approval of that of the new year.

He said that they would have to make a recourse to the House if they wanted to spend up to N200 Million.

“We pointed out that the Governor ought to lay the budget of the New Year before December 31st, 2018, but that so far the budget was yet to be laid, which was on January 23, 2019.

“We asked them to bring out the law that allowed them to spend up to 20% of the budget of the preceding year. They could not bring out such law and we said what they did was wrong.

“We discovered that people have started receiving alerts and this has a grave implication for the executive.

“It is our finding that for smooth running of government, there must be a strict adherent to the constitution and it must not be violated. “We decided to bring the report before the lawmakers for us to take action,” he said.

In his comment, Hon. Gbolahan Yishawu revealed that the Committee on Budget discovered during budget review that there were some specific expenditure in the budgets that ought to have been approved by the House over which funds were expended. 

Yishawu stated that these were misnomers, and that they noticed variation in the expenditure and budget approved. 

“We had issues of virement and monies being spent without approval. We had cases of items that were not budgeted for being carried out, it shows the executive rewrite the budget at will.

“The Constitution states that the State House of Assembly must approve all expenditures,” he added. 

According to him, contracts are shutting down, things are being slowed down by the government. 

He said that it was as if the executive was tired and that the people were complaining. 

“It is as if nothing is happening in the state now. Breach of the constitution and gross misconduct are being committed here, and the punishment is clear. 

“We should begin an impeachment process if need be if the executive does not retrace their steps,” he said.

This was corroborated by Hon. Tunde Braimoh, who said that the revelation by the committee that considered the matter was of serious concern.

He stated that they all swore to uphold the tenets of the constitution of Nigeria. 

He added that Sections 120 and 121 explained the roles of each arm of government when it comes to financial expenditure. 

“If we continue like this, it means we are moving on the ebb of destruction. The issue of gross misconduct should be closely looked into and necessary sanctions applied,” he said.

This was supported by Hon. Bisi Yusuf, who pointed out that the Governor is an accountant, and that he was an Acting Auditor General in 2001 and was confirmed in 2005. 

“With his level of exposure, the Governor cannot claim ignorance. He is being surrounded by intellectuals, so they ought to have advised him including the Deputy Governor and the Commissioner for Budget and Economic Planning. The Attorney General ought to have been removed for quoting a law that does not exist. 

“All those, who are given the Governor bad advice should be removed. “In the whole of Lagos, things have shut down. This is an offence that is not pardonable. I want to say this is an impeachable offence for the Governor and the commissioners,” he said.

Also, Hon. Rotimi Olowo said that rewriting of the Budget is an impeachable offence, and that the Government had been shut down and Lagos roads were in a sorry state. 

Olowo added that there must be continuity of projects in the budget and that this was not followed. 

He added that borrowing without informing the house was impeachable, and that if the Governor was tired, he should resign from office.

In his contribution. Hon. Moshood Oshun stated that, When someone applied for a job, he could leave if he was tired.

“The budget is a law, when we pass a budget, they rewrite their own. “What they are saying is that they are above the law.

“If you go to Alausa today, all the MDAs are shut down. All their files are with the Governor and he did not work on them,” he said.

Also contributing, Hon. Funmilayo Tejuoso said that the lawmakers were the voice of the people of Lagos State and that they perform oversight functions to ensure that the Government did the best for the people. 

Tejuoso said; “Accountability is not being done here. Section 121 of the Nigerian Constitution made it clear that the appropriation bill should be laid before the house. 

“Section 122 of the constitution states that if that has been done, you can now spend 25% of the budget estimate for a period of six months. 

“We need to forward the infractions to the Governor. The tax payers should know what their money is being spent on.”

The Majority Leader of the House, Hon. Sanai Agunbiade stated that there are three arms of government of which the executive is one. 

Agunbiade said that the Lagos State Government was still running and not shut down. 

“What we want to do is to ensure that the infractions from one arm of the government does not affect another. 

“It is clear that the budget has not been presented before the House. “My colleagues have addressed all the issues. We should let the public know that we do not have the budget before the House,” he said.

The Majority Leader emphasized that the Commissioners, who were approved by the House and are working with the Governor should have vote of no confidence passed on them based on their roles on the budget impasse, adding that they had failed in their responsibilities. 

He then urged the Governor to resign or the House should begin an impeachment process against him.

The lawmaker stressed that the House could communicate to the Governor to resign from office and that failure to do so would be for them to start collecting signatures of lawmakers for impeachment so that they could be seeing to have done their job.

Others lawmakers, who spoke supported the impeachment move against the Governor.

The included Hon. Richard Kasunmu, Hon. Rasheed Makinde, Hon. Yinka Ogundimu and Hon. Sola Giwa

Others are Hon. Victor Akande, Hon. Fatai Mojeed, Hon. Jude Idimogu, Hon. Noheem Raheem, Hon. Fatai Oluwa, Hon. Oladele Adekanye, Hon. Sabur Olayiwola and Hon. Akeem Shokunle.

The rest are Hon. Mosunmola Sangodara, Hon. Setonji David, Hon. Akeem Bello, Hon. Dayo Saka-Fafunmi, Hon. Mojisola Miranda, Hon. Dayo Famakinwa, Hon. Saka Solaja, Hon. Folajinmi Mohammed, Hon. Lanre Ogunyemi, Hon. Omotayo Oduntan, Hon. Rotimi Abiru and Hon. Wahab Jimoh