APC, Osun Assembly differ over park regulating bill - Punch Newspapers

The Osun State chapter of the All Progressives Congress and the state House of Assembly have clashed over the constitutionality of the recently passed Integrated Transport, Traffic and Park Management System Bill, with the party rejecting the legislation and the lawmakers defending their authority to pass it. While the APC argued that the Assembly lacked the constitutional power to legislate on the regulation and management of motor parks, the lawmakers dismissed the position as a misinterpretation of the 1999 Constitution, particularly its provisions on local government functions and state legislative powers. In a statement obtained in Osogbo on Thursday, signed by Kola Olabisi, the party’s spokesperson, the APC insisted that the Osun State House of Assembly that passed the said bill lacked the constitutional authority to dabble in the regulation and management of motor parks across the state. “We won’t fail to impress it on Governor Ademola Adeleke that his administration could not now enact or achieve the illegality through his obnoxious and repugnant Motor Parks Management Bill that was initially proposed by the invocation of an Executive Order, which he retreated from following our resistance to such official governmental anomaly. “Such Bill, if eventually passed into law, would be at variance with certain provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 as amended, Section 7(1) which assigns direct administration and revenue collection of public motor parks to democratically elected local government councils across the country rather than the federal or state government,” the statement read. The party insisted that the bill “is a glaring recipe for the disturbance of public peace in the state apart from the fact that it is at variance with the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 as amended.”See more Punch stories on Google.Add Punch on Google However, in a statement signed by the Chief Press Secretary to the Speaker of the state House of Assembly, Olamide Tiamiyu, the Assembly advised the Osun APC to desist from its “misinterpretation of the 1999 Constitution, particularly its provisions relating to local government councils and the legislative powers of the state House of Assembly.” The Assembly noted that the position expressed by the APC was fundamentally flawed, saying the party relied on selective application of Section 7 of the Constitution without a proper appreciation of the constitutional relationship between the state and local government. “Section 7(1) of the 1999 Constitution guarantees the system of democratically elected Local Government Councils and expressly provides that the government of every state shall ensure their existence under a law providing for their establishment, structure, composition, finance and functions. Why I’m supporting Tinubu — Alex Otti Adeleke justifies UNIOSUN VC’s tenure extension Ogun 2027: The wrong ballot question “The implication is straightforward: the Constitution deliberately places the legislative framework for the establishment, structure, finance and functions of local government councils within the state legal architecture. “It is therefore erroneous for the APC to suggest that the mere fact that a matter appears among the functions of local government councils automatically removes it from the legislative competence of the state. “Indeed, the Fourth Schedule lists the establishment, maintenance and regulation of motor parks among the functions of local government councils. But the same constitutional framework must be read as a whole, rather than selectively. The Constitution also recognises the authority of a state House of Assembly to confer functions on local government councils by law,” the Assembly said. The parliament further said the APC’s argument that the state House of Assembly was constitutionally barred from legislating on a subject connected with local government councils was incorrect. “It is pertinent to say that all the functions enumerated for the local government in the Fourth Schedule of the Constitution cannot be performed without the approval of the state House of Assembly. Mr Kola Olabisi should please add this to his knowledge. “Furthermore, Section 100 of the Constitution expressly provides the constitutional procedure through which the legislative power of a state House of Assembly is exercised by Bills passed by the House and, subject to the Constitution, assented to by the Governor. “The Osun State House of Assembly has followed the legislative process in considering and passing the Integrated Transport, Traffic and Park Management System Bill. “The legislation was subjected to debate and deliberation by elected representatives of the people before its passage,” it further read. Rather than resorting to issuing press releases, the Assembly told the APC to approach a competent court of law and place its interpretation of the Constitution before the judiciary. Bola Bamigbola

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