APC, Osun Assembly differ over bill regulating motor park activities

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The Osun State chapter of the All Progressives Congress has rejected the recently passed Integrated Transport, Traffic and Park Management System Bill, insisting that the legislation is “dead on arrival.”

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This was contained in a statement obtained in Osogbo on Thursday and signed by the party’s spokesperson, Kola Olabisi.

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The APC insisted that the Osun State House of Assembly that passed the bill lacked the constitutional authority to dabble in the regulation and management of motor parks across the state.

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The party said, “We won’t fail to impress it on Governor Ademola Adeleke that his administration could not now access 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.

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“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 partly read.

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The party also 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.”

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However, in a statement signed by the Chief Press Secretary to the Speaker of the Osun State House of Assembly, Olamide Tiamiyu, the Assembly advised the Osun APC to desist from what it described as the “Misinterpretation of the 1999 Constitution, particularly its provisions relating to Local Government Councils and the legislative powers of the State House of Assembly.”

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The Assembly said the position expressed by the APC was fundamentally flawed, arguing that the party relied on a selective application of Section 7 of the Constitution without properly appreciating the constitutional relationship between the state and local governments.

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It said, “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.

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“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.

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“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.

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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.

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It said, “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.

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“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.

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“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.

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Rather than issuing press releases, the Assembly advised the APC to approach a competent court of law and place its interpretation of the Constitution before the judiciary.

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