Adibe Emenyonu in Benin City
Speaker of Edo state House of Assembly, Mr Tiger Victor Edoror, and his deputy, Mr Bright Osayande, were on Tuesday impeached by 16 lawmakers for alleged abuse of office, misconduct and abuse of power.
In their place, Mrs Elizabeth Ativie (Uhumwonde constituency) was sworn in as Speaker, while Justin Okonobo (Igueben constituency) emerged as the Deputy Speaker of the House.
The motion for the impeachment of the Speaker was moved by the Majority Leader of House, Mr Folly Ogedengbe (Owan West constituency) and was seconded by the member representing Esan north East constituency 1, Mr Patrick Iluobe.
Before the impeachment, Speaker ex-tempo Patrick Iluobe was appointed to preside over the
business of the day where the new speaker, Hon. Mrs. Elizabeth Ativie representing Uhuwode was appointed and Dr. Joseph Okonoboh representing Igueben was appointed as Deputy Speaker.
Immediately the new speaker was sworn in, the impeached speaker and his deputy walked into the chamber in company of the thugs shooting sporadically to scare people out of the chambers, in the process a lot of people sustained various degree of injuries.
It was learnt that the faith of other Principal Officers of the House will be decided this week by the new leadership of the House. The signal that the Speaker was going to be impeached has been on for some time now, after majority of the members alleged that funds accrued to members are not reaching them.
The cold war in the House was said to have heightened after it was discovered that some of the out gone council chairmen of Local Government Councils parted with money with a view to get their tenure extended by the House but majority of the lawmakers wondered who they gave the money to as none of them got any kobo from the chairmen
And there was strong denial from the Speaker and his Deputy that no money got to them from the chairmen. Apart from that, the leadership of the House had on several occasions had a heated argument with other members over funds but Governor Adams Oshiomhole has always played a major role in resolving the matter.
Several efforts made to get the reaction of the impeached Speaker proved abortive as he hurriedly left the chambers. Several phone calls were unanswered.
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