culled from thepunchnewspaper (18th of August, 2013)
Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Mr. Adeyemi Ikuforiji, in this interview with GBENGA ADENIJI and ALLWELL OKPI, speaks about his case with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and passage of bills by the House, among other issues
How has it been leading the Lagos State House of Assembly?
It has been quite interesting generally, very challenging, demanding and highly tasking. All in all, it has also been rewarding in the sense that we have put in all efforts and made sacrifices and the results are here with us. God has been merciful. I personally think we have the best legislature in Lagos State. Our efforts have started yielding positive results and we are still here. It has been fulfilling too and we see all the beautiful things that follow success.
In the past few years, several laws have been made in Lagos but there is still a general belief that the Lagos Assembly is a rubber stamp of the executive. Do you agree with that?
I would not agree that there is a general notion that the House of Assembly is a rubber stamp of the executive. I think most watchers of events in Nigeria do say that the Lagos House is the only House that has the semblance of an independent legislative arm in the country, apart from the National Assembly. We are not just independent; we are independent-minded and we have autonomy. We are not tied to the apron strings of any other arm of government and we are conscious of the fact that the independence of the three arms of the government, as stated in the constitution, also calls for interdependence, collaboration and coorperation among the three arms. If anybody is seeing the collaboration between the Lagos House and the executive arm of government in Lagos as being a rubber stamp, the person is totally wrong. The House has never been a rubber stamp. In the last eight years, we have in different ways demonstrated that this is an independent arm of government working collaboratively with the executive arm to move Lagos forward.
