A fortnight ago, the Governor of Delta State, Senator (Dr.) Ifeanyi Okowa, proclaimed the sixth assembly of the Delta State House of Assembly which authorized the new assembly to commence its constitutional duties. Typical of such occasions, a large retinue of Deltans trooped to the hallowed chambers of the legislative body to catch a glimpse of the new set of honourable members who, in the Africanised form of the English language pioneered by the pathfinder novelist Chinua Achebe, “will be the eyes” of our people for four years.
The election of the principal officers produced Rt. Hon. Monday O. Igbuya as Speaker, Rt. Hon. Friday Osanebi, Deputy Speaker, and Hon. Tim Owhefere, Majority Leader, but the choice of the Minority Leader and other officers was postponed to another day probably because they are adjunct to the three principal posts in the House which is predominantly Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) with 23 of the 29 members.
However, Igbuya’s emergence has a tinge of historic attainment in the sense that he is the first Urhobo politician in contemporary times to occupy the position of speaker. There is no other person from his ethnicity, either living or dead, who has held such post since Nigeria’s independence. An Urhobo and a leading light of his generation, Chief Jereton Mariere was governor while the late Chief Dennis C. Osadebay held the post of premier in the old Midwest Region which was created in 1963 and rechristened Midwest State four years later.
When the Midwest State metamorphosed into the defunct Bendel State in 1976, an entity those in their late 40s and above occasionally romanticise for its large size, uncommon ethnic mix and the memorable enviable feats of its citizenry, the Urhobo produced two deputy governors in the Second Republic. While the late Chief Demas Akpore served Prof. Ambrose Alli, a visionary governor and trailblazer of the free education policy that boosted literacy and widened the frontiers of socio-economic development in the former Bendel State, the late Chief Ray Inijeh worked with the incomparable fair-minded governor Dr. Samuel Ogbemudia for only three months in 1983.
The Urhobo are a wonderful species that pursue their cause with enviable zeal, and for nearly 24 years they have coexisted with other ethnicities in Delta State, they were not predisposed toward holding the speakership position. Rather, they always showed keen interest in taking a shot at the number-one position which they had occupied twice facilitated by their choice of mainstream political platforms, sense of oneness, numerical strength and alluring alliances with other ethnic nationalities in Delta State.
I have embarked on this historical retrospection to show that people who make history are favoured by providence and, in most cases, the political position allotted to an individual or zone is mere happenstance. Thus, a reading of Igbuya’s ascendancy in the current hierarchy of political governance of Delta State shows the interplay of time and chance which the Biblical Proverbs essentially identifies as the ultimate decider of a man’s success or failure. His major advantage was his election as a third-term member and the zoning of the speakership post by the PDP to Delta Central senatorial district after Delta North and Delta South senatorial districts had produced the governor and deputy governor respectively.
Now that he has got the position, it is his duty to justify his choice as speaker of the sixth assembly. All he needs so much is to show leadership in the way he would manage the affairs of the House which is a peculiar organ where the speaker’s status is merely acknowledged as first as among equals, and not as superior to other members who, in the words of the late venerate MKO Abiola, are also “custodians of sacred mandates” freely given to them by their constituents. The legislature differs from the executive arm where a governor who is so enamoured with the enormous power at his disposal could breathe down the neck of his commissioners who are indeed his aides. On the other hand, it is the loyalty and cooperation of members that will ensure the survival and success of the speaker as the presiding officer of a legislative body.
He therefore has to work very hard to earn the confidence of his colleagues who might be more disposed to a leadership model that places premium on consultation and consensus building than the type which merely arrogates authority to a select few that constitute the principal officers. With time the litmus test will be his ability to carry everybody along, including the six opposition members. Of course, such a thing would not be strange to him as an experienced politician who first cut his teeth as a councillor, then local government chairman, and as a legislator since 2007.
It is in the area of lawmaking that Rt.Hon. Igbuya will have to reinvigorate the House to optimally perform its function. It is possible for the sixth assembly to surpass the feat of the fifth assembly which churned out 55 bills in four years if it could work harder than the preceding assemblies. It is not a tall order as it has in its fold a number of ranking members who are knowledgeable and experienced. The speaker and his colleagues are also expected to think out of the box and generate more private bills than the number they will receive from the executive.
It is also needful at this time for the speaker to give adequate attention to the oversight function of the House which should in line with the constitutional requirement periodically ascertain the level of work on projects that funds were appropriated and disbursed to. This aspect was poorly performed by the past assemblies due to laxity or executive interference but has become necessary so that the citizenry can get value for public funds, more so that Delta State is in dire financial straits occasioned by sundry factors.
It is also expected of the sixth assembly to sustain the collaborative engagements between the House and the executive arm as a way of promoting good governance in the state. It is a tradition that the PDP’s dominance of the state’s polity has promoted since 1999. While we expect due approval of list of executive appointments and consideration of executive bills, including appropriation proposals, to drive the wheels of governance in the state, the legislature should however assert its independence when the need arises. A case in point was the passage of the Delta State Anti-Kidnapping and Terrorism Law by two-thirds majority of the Fifth Assembly in 2013 after the former governor, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan declined assent to the bill. That singular action portrayed the legislative body as one with a mind of its own in contrast to the unenviable identity of a rubberstamp that critics had labelled it.
Rt. Hon. Igbuya is a maker of history but posterity now beckons on him to utilise his experience as a legislator to lead the House in a remarkable way that long after his exit, his imprints would still be recognisable. A rare opportunity has been thrust upon him to provide an exemplary leadership which would propel the House to perform its duty and attain unimagined heights that eluded previous assemblies and subsequently elicit the admiration of Deltans for its actions.
