The Edo state house of assembly
has declared vacant, seats of 12 lawmakers who are yet to be inaugurated.
This development comes months
after nine lawmakers loyal to Godwin Obaseki, governor of the state, were
secretly inaugurated, leaving their colleagues stranded.
The 12 lawmakers were among the
15 excluded from the inauguration in June, and are said to be in the camp of
Adams Oshiomhole, chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) whose
misunderstanding with the governor led to the factionalisation of the state
assembly.
Yekini Idiaye, the deputy
speaker, while addressing journalists in Benin, the state capital, said the decision to declare the seats vacant was
reached during plenary on Wednesday.
“Their constituents have been
complaining and have come to us that they want their voices and concerns to be
heard at the house. So, people who are willing to provide quality
representation have to be elected to bring the matters of the distraught
constituents to the floor for debate and legislation, where necessary,” he
said.
The seats declared vacant are
Etsako west I, Etsako west II, Owan east, Owan west, Etsako central, Etsako
east and Esan central, Uhunmwonde, Oredo east, Oredo west, Egor, Ovia
north-east I, Ovia north-east II and Ovia south-west I.
Led by Julius Osifo, a former
commissioner in the state, the lawmakers-elect had in June given Obaseki a
seven-day ultimatum to give proclamation for a new assembly.
Prior to the controversial
inauguration, Oshiomhole was said to have been perfecting strategies to oust
Obaseki since he had majority of the lawmakers in his camp.
A source, then, told TheCable
that “after the lawmakers loyal to Oshiomhole gave the governor a seven-day ultimatum
to inaugurate the assembly, his camp reached out to five legislators who were
on the side of the APC chairman and with this, they were able to form quorum
for inauguration.”
In July, the house of
representatives had also asked Mohammed Adamu, inspector-general of police, to
shut the Edo state house of assembly, following the recommendation of a panel
set up to investigate the crisis rocking the assembly.
Click to signup for FREE news updates, latest information and hottest gists everyday
Advertise on NigerianEye.com to reach thousands of our daily users
No comments
Post a Comment
Kindly drop a comment below.
(Comments are moderated. Clean comments will be approved immediately)
Advert Enquires - Reach out to us at NigerianEye@gmail.com