14th September, 2017
Jethro Ibileke/Benin
The Speaker of Edo State House of Assembly, Mr. Kabiru Adjoto, has explained why he spends his security vote to take care of the armed security men attached to his office.
Adjoto who said this on Thursday in Benin during an interactive session with journalists, said being the number three citizen of the state, exposes him to risks of being kidnapped or attacked by armed robbers.
He said for that reason, he uses his security vote to pay his security men, to avoid being taken away like a chicken by hoodlums.
He, however disclosed that members of the Assembly do not receive security vote, except the Speaker.
“On the issue of security vote, Edo State House of Assembly does not have security vote as an institution and an arm of government. It is only Mr. Speaker that has security vote. That is why Mr. Speaker is the number three in the State.
“If he is taken away like a chicken on the street, many people will then [ask], did he not have security men around him?
“So, I use the security vote to take care of the security men protecting Mr. Speaker, in order for kidnappers and men of the underworld not to steal or whisk him away or harm him.
“In the course of discharging my duty as Mr. Speaker by moving from one community to another, or criss-crossing the country, do you want me to go alone? No. So, some armed security men must go with me. And where do I pay them from? It is from Mr. Speaker’s security vote.
Speaking on his relationship with other members of the House, Adjoto noted that being the Speaker was just a privilege and not a right and therefore, he cooperates with other members of the House to make laws for the progress of the State.
“As Mr. Speaker, I am not superior to any other member, as there are 24, in which I am one of them. Being a Speaker is just a privilege and that does not make me a king over other members.
“I will humble myself, see leadership as a collective enterprise. It is only when I am seeing myself as the man who knows it all, that is when I will fail as Speaker. But if I see leadership as collective enterprise, I think that is when all the other 23 members will see me and respect me and to continue to see me as their Speaker.
“I will not be a dictator, I will not take a decision without consultation, I will see myself as servant leader and not superior to any of them,” he said.
On the issue of political imbalance in the house, Hon. Emmanuel Agbaje, an APC lawmaker who represents Akoko-Edo Constituency II, said the current Speaker of the House has the leadership qualities that will enhance the development of the State and bring about effective legislature in the House.
He noted that sacrificing efficiency for mediocrity on the altar of tribal sentiment while choosing leadership, has not done any good to any State.
“Tribal consideration has always been the problem of development in Nigeria. As far as Edo State is concerned, we are one family. When talking about power balancing, nobody is talking about the judiciary. The power balancing should not be limited alone to executive and legislature, [while] we close our eyes to the judiciary.
“When we made the choice of leadership, we did extensive consideration on the choice of who should be our leader, but what is far more above is the capacity of that leader, because at the end of the day, we slaughter competence at the altar of power balancing.
“We must ensure this community gets this and at the end of the day, we end up in colossal failure. We will give accounts to the people.
“Development is our focus. We should begin to downplay the aspect on the basis of power balancing or whatever they may call it. And it will not take us to anywhere. We must jettison those elements that are anti-development,” Agbaje said.