- Trades words with Uzodimma over alleged takeover plot
Adibe Emenyonu in Benin City
The Edo State House of Assembly has removed the Deputy speaker, Hon.Yekini Idaiye on grounds of alleged gross misconduct.
The lawmakers have also engaged in war of words with the Governor of Imo State, Senator Hope Uzodimma over an allegation by the lawmakers that the Imo State governor was conniving with the sacked deputy speaker and other APC leaders on how to import a mace and forcefully seize the state assembly
The removal of the deputy speaker from office was sequel to a motion moved by Hon. Henry Okhuarobo, representing Ikpba-Okha State Constituency and seconded by Hon. Marcus Onobun of Esan West State Constituency
Moving the motion, Okhuarobo said “Mr. Speaker, with me is a notice of removal of the deputy speaker of the house signed by two-third members of the house.
“The removal of the deputy speaker is on the grounds of gross misconduct and divulging of official secrets,” Okhuarobo said.
The lawmakers, after deliberations on the petition, unanimously adopted the motion through a voice -vote.
The Speaker, Hon. Francis Okiye thereafter pronounced the deputy speaker removed.
In his place, Hon. Roland Asoro was made the Deputy Speaker of the assembly shortly after he was nominated and the oath of office and allegiance administered on him by the Speaker .
The motion for the nomination of Asoro as the new Deputy Speaker was moved by Hon. Emmanuel Okoduwa, representing Esan North East I, and seconded by Hon. Ephraim Aluebhosele of Esan South-east.
Meanwhile, the state assembly has accused the Governor of Imo State, Senator Hope Uzodimma and other APC leaders of plotting to forcefully take over the assembly by importing a mace to perfect the act.
It also alleged that the plan was in connivance with the impeached Deputy Speaker, Idiaye who recently declared support for the governorship candidate of APC, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu.
Speaker of the assembly, Okiye, who made the allegation during a media briefing at the Government House, venue of the state assembly, called for the intervention of President Muhammadu Buhari.
Okiye in the briefing captioned “Urgent Need to Call Imo State Governor, Sen. Hope Uzodinma and Leaders of the APC in Edo State to Order over Their Plan to Violently and Illegally Take over the Edo State House of Assembly,” further alleged that the perpetrators planned to import a fake mace to take over the assembly.
He said the action if allowed to happen is akin to lighting a match in an already tensed political environment, which conflagration is capable of causing crisis in the state on a scale that would be beyond imagination
“We call on Edo people whose mandate and interests the state legislature holds and protects, to rise against this planned attack and plot to subvert their will and subjugate them using external forces.
“We urge lovers of democracy across the world, institutions that uphold democratic tenets and values, pro-democracy groups, to denounce this planned illegality that seeks to distract a duly constituted authority.
“We recognise the constitutional rights of the three members of the House of Assembly to support the candidate of their choice, but that should not distract them from coming to work to carry out the job they were elected for”, Okiye noted.
Reacting to the allegation, Imo State Commissioner for Special Projects, Mr. Simon Ebegbulem described the allegation as baseless, adding, that it is a mark of insensitivity.
He said “The illegal Speaker and his governor are not making sense with this baseless allegation. I don’t even know what they are talking about because there is no House of Assembly in Edo State. I think that is why the so-called Speaker is running away from his shadow like a criminal that will always run once he sees a law enforcement agent.
Ebegbulem wandered why Okiye should even mention the name of his boss into the political problem of Edo State if not that all of them are jittery of the impending defeat that waits them come September 19.
“I Idon’t know why he should draw the leg of His Excellency, Governor Hope Uzodimma into his political problems. My governor is interested in working with other APC governors and stakeholders to reclaim Edo State, which has been an APC state before Governor Obaseki donated it to the PDP”.
