The crisis rocking the Edo state
house of assembly took a new twist on Thursday with the emergence of Victor
Edoror as speaker.
Edoror, who was impeached as
deputy speaker in 2018, was elected speaker by 17 lawmakers loyal to Adams
Oshiomhole, former governor of the state.
The
lawmakers orchestrated the removal of Francis Okiye as speaker after meeting at
an undisclosed location in Benin, the state capital.
Among the 17 lawmakers were 12
who were not sworn in since they were elected in 2019.
Their seats had been declared
vacant amid the power tussle between the members of the assembly loyal to
Oshiomhole and those who have the backing of Godwin Obaseki, the current
governor.
Obaseki, who is now the candidate
of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the
September 19 governorship election, has enjoyed the support of the
assembly with his loyalists in charge.
But he started losing support of
some of the lawmakers. Yekini Idiaye, the deputy speaker and one of his
loyalists, recently endorsed Osagie Ize-Iyamu, candidate of the All
Progressives Congress (APC), in the election.
Although Idiaye was consequently
removed as deputy speaker, that step emboldened the pro-Oshiomhole lawmakers
who relaunched the move for their inauguration.
The inauguration of the new
members and subsequent emergence of the new speaker is believed to be part of a
grant plot to impeach the governor.
But speaking after his emergence
as speaker, Edoror was said to have promised that the house under his
leadership will focus on its legislative duties and not pursue the impeachment
of any member of the executive, apparently referring to Obaseki.
He was also said to have called
for unity among the members, and that there is “no victor, no vanquished”.
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