The Minority Leader of the Osun House Assembly, South West Nigeria, Hon. Kofoworola Adewumi, has been advised to leave the State Governor, Mr Adegboyega Oyetola out of their parliamentary politics.
The lawmaker has also been advised to stop fishing for trouble where none exists.
Reacting to the statement credited to Adewumi, in which he accused the governor of being hostile to the opposition lawmakers, Ismail Omipidan, who is the Chief Press Secretary to the governor, described the lawmaker’s position as not only misleading, but also lacking in logic and concrete facts.
Omipidan further noted that for the House Minority Leader to issue a statement on a matter he had unsuccessfully tried to get the presiding officer’s buy-in on the floor of the House shows he either lacks parliamentary acumen or does not understand his role as a parliament.
“I am not a lawmaker, but as an experienced parliamentary reporter, I understand perfectly how things work in the parliament. We have a 26-member House, and the opposition has three of the total.
“Lobbying is a potent instrument deployed by effective lawmakers to get things done for their constituents. If as a Minority Leader, you want favour from Mr. Governor, you lobby him to achieve your end. But, in this instance, you never made any request from the governor to the best of my knowledge Yet , you are accusing him of being hostile to the opposition lawmakers.
“Have you made any request of him either for your personal benefit or that of your constituents, which he turned down? To demonstrate our commitment to good governance devoid of partisan politics, as a government, we began our infrastructure development from Ede, the home town of our main challenger in the 2018 governorship election. The area is also being represented in the House by an opposition lawmaker.
“If for whatever reason the Minority Leader could not attend a meeting between the House and Mr. Governor last weekend, how has that become the fault of Mr. Governor? And how does that amount to hostility?
“When I first saw the misleading statement, I was waiting to read in concrete terms what constitutes the alleged hostility from my Principal. I was disappointed to observe that he was trying to drag Mr. Governor into what was purely parliamentary politics.
“I appeal to the Minority Leader of the Osun House Assembly, Hon. Kofoworola Adewumi, to apply parliamentary norms to parliamentary issues, including lobbying, leave the governor out of parliamentary politics and stop fishing for trouble where none exists,” Omipidan declared.
