The Edo State House of Assembly crisis took a new twist on Monday morning when the Peoples Democratic Party lawmakers in the Assembly gained entry into the Anthony Enahoro Assembly Complex and held a plenary.
The lawmakers, which included the impeached Deputy Speaker,
Festus Ebea, who acted as Speaker, and three suspended members, sat in front of the entrance to the chamber.
It was gathered that the lawmakers had converged at the Assembly complex as early as 7am, with a mace and a Sergeant at Arms, overheard exclaiming, “Mr. Speaker” repeatedly as the “House” rose.
Ebea, while briefing newsmen after the sitting of the four members, said the lawmakers had resolved that the renovation in the Assembly Complex was illegal.
He said, “It did not go through due process. It did not pass through my table, as the Chairman of the Committee on Tenders Board.”
He also stated that the Speaker, Uyi Igbe, and other principal officers of the House, whom they had suspended, should be prevented from making withdrawals from the Assembly’s account.
Ebea said the House had further asked Governor Adams Oshiomhole to pay the outstanding entitlements of the recalled teachers and instructed the 18 local government chairmen to forward their receipts of cash disbursements to the House, to ascertain why “most of the local governments failed to meet up with their financial obligations”.
A heavy presence of security operatives was noticed around the Assembly, causing traffic gridlock on major roads around the building.
Source: The Punch
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