Nigeria Content Online

The
G-11 lawmakers of the Ogun State House of Assembly known to be loyalists
of the governor, Gbenga Daniel yesterday stunned the world, as they
created a makeshift Assembly Complex inside the government house where
they deliberated on the 2011 budget.

The budget was said
to have been earlier presented in secret to them by the state governor,
Gbenga Daniel. It would be recalled that following unresolved political
crisis in the state since 2006, the House of Assembly was shut down in
September 6, 2010, as a result of a sudden impeachment carried out by
the 9 lawmakers, announcing the sack of 15 members of the Assembly.

However, in a twist
to the legislative business of the Assembly which has been on hold since
the impeachment crisis started, the factional Speaker, Shoyemi Coker
led the G11 group to the Valley View of Government House in Oke-Igbein,
Abeokuta, announcing to the ministries and agencies that the governor
had presented the budget to the house.

Compulsory approach

Mr. Coker,
therefore, called on the ministries and agencies to subject themselves
to budget defence, saying ‘‘for the sake of clarity let me say that this
is the committee level of the defence of the 2011 budget’’. The
factional members of House of Assembly thereafter moved into the cubicle
within the complex, to further deliberate on the controversial budget
of which estimate is not known to the public. Journalists were equally
sent away from the venue.

He said, the complex
turned ‘assembly’ was provided for them by the security agencies ‘‘I
want to thank the security agencies in the state, they have done a good
job in securing this complex , I really want to appreciate them.’’

“We can’t wait till
the time when our other colleagues feel it is convenient , we need to
move the state forward, that is the reason we are here.” He however
claimed that, the Assembly “receive the budget from the Excellency, we
want to commend the Excellency for a job well done in spite of the
situation in our state but at the same time, we want to appeal to him
concerning the situation of roads across the state so that we can put
them in good shape before the end of our tenure. We have done our part
on the budget.” he said.

However, journalists were not able to know the estimate of the budget
in question when they approached Mr Coker, ‘‘You will hear in due
course’’.