Special Adviser to the Edo State Governor on Media and Communication Strategy, Mr. Crusoe Osagie, has said that the recent statements from the Publicity Secretary of All Progressives Congress (APC), Mallam Lanre Issa-Onilu, on the disagreement over the inauguration of the Edo State House of Assembly, has confirmed that the party’s National Chairman, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, is sponsoring the crisis.
In a statement, Osagie said, “the government’s attention has been drawn to the widely reported comments of the National Publicity Secretary of All Progressives Congress (APC) Mallam Lanre Issa-Onilu, with the headline: ‘APC endorses NASS takeover of Edo Assembly’, which is not only hasty, but a slap on the face of the country’s judiciary.
According to him, “Issa-Onilu’s hasty comment is coming before the Senate Committee’s report of its investigation into the issues at the Edo State House of Assembly and clearly pre-empts the much-awaited joint position of both chambers of the National Assembly as stipulated in the Nigerian 1999 Constitution, as amended.”
The governor’s aide described the endorsement by the APC National Publicity Secretary as a slap on the face of the nation’s judiciary which has restrained the APC NWC from interfering in the affairs of the Edo House of Assembly, adding “The endorsement is sufficient proof that the Comrade Adams Oshiomhole-led faction of the APC NWC is behind the crisis in the Edo State House of Assembly and has been teleguiding the House of Representatives Committee to carry out illegality in Edo State.”
Osagie noted: “The APC Publicity Secretary has consistently proven to be the mouthpiece of the Oshiomhole-led faction of the APC National Working Committee and not the entire NWC of the party, so when Issa-Onilu speaks, Oshiomhole is always within prompting range.”
He added, “Edo people have expressed their unflinching respect for the Rule of Law with regard to the situation at the Edo State House of Assembly, and will resist any form of illegality, no matter how highly placed the perpetrators of such illegality.”
