By Emma Amaize,  Regional Editor, Niger Delta,  Gabriel Enogholase & Alemma-Ozioruvwa Aliu

ORIGINALLY, the 24 members  of Edo State House of Assembly stood united on their demand that Governor Godwin Obaseki should issue a proclamation for inauguration of the House, manifestly delayed due to disagreement over who should emerge as speaker.

Assembly Mace

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The seeming unity evaporated when Governor Obaseki finally sent the letter to the Clerk of the House same day the lawmakers addressed a press conference in Benin City, asking the governor to do the needful.

Majority of the members-elect, however, claim that the authorities in the state deliberately shut them out of the inauguration ceremony to achieve a predetermined objective.

Hon. Frank Okiye, the governor’s choice, who eventually emerged as speaker with only nine out of members in attendance, disagreed that anybody purposely left out the 15 lawmakers that were curiously missing on the day of inauguration.

Despite the hullabaloo, inauguration of the House occurred on June 17 and a speaker emerged from the process, whether the “excluded” members-elect agree or disagree with the process is another issue all together.

A corollary effect of the former is that there  is  no  tranquility in the state  over the June 17 episode. Two weeks after the clever plot, the lawmakers  are  at each other’s throat. The party is worse for it and the entire state is feeling the heat. The ruling All Progressives Congress, APC,  has split into two – Governor Obaseki and pro-National Chairman, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole ‘s camps.

Some of the members-elect had visited the Speaker to congratulate him even among the 13 that have not come forth for inauguration. Others picked his call when he called to beg them to come for inauguration, while a number of them inisisted that he is not the Speaker.

Vanguard spoke to lawmakers on both divides on the way out of the logjam.

External forces should leave lawmakers to resolve their differences – Okiye

The Speaker, Okiye, representing Esan North East I, told Vanguard that external forces were behind the crisis in the House and urged them to leave the lawmakers to deal with the situation themselves.

His words: “I must say from my  understanding of the event that those who think that the House of Assembly will be the battle ground should leave us alone because if they leave us alone, we definitely will be able to sort ourselves out and go back to work for which we were elected to do.”

 Obaseki should allow the rule of law hold sway – Eribo

A ranking member of the House, Hon Crosby Eribo from Egor Constituency said,: “Obaseki is my first cousin, I love him and I respect him, blood is thicker than water, but he should let the rule of law prevail.”

Obaseki . Okiye should do what is right –  Osifo

Hon Washington Osifo representing Uhunmwonde constituency said Governor Obaseki should listen to the voice of reason and go back to where he started from so that bad advisers would not destroy him.

He said: “People are always in a hurry; I am a very patient person and will not do that which is wrong.

“Our problem is that we do not have courage to speak truth to power and stay by it. Even when some agree for all of you to go on hunger strike, before you know it, they will go behind closed door and be eating,” Osifo added.

He also said it was the duty of the Speaker, Okiye, though he emerged through  a flawed process to reach out to his colleagues and ensure that the issues were resolved.

Leadership should summon all lawmakers for a jaw-jaw– Agbaje

Hon Emmanuel Agbaje, member-elect representing Akoko-Edo Constituency II, who condemned the treatement meted to most of them as if they were members of an opposition party, asked the leadership of the House to call everybody to order.

He said: “The way forward is that firstly, we are all from the same party, the governor is our leader and we do not have any other party, none of us is in the opposition party and I believe that no matter what has gone wrong, they should provide leadership.

“They should find it necessary to call everybody together, if there is anything anybody has done wrong, the person can be confronted with it and I do not think anybody is going to hesitate to apologize. Nevertheless, to shut us out as if we are aliens or members of an opposition party or we are enemies of the party is not nice.

“During elections, we campaigned together on the platform of our party, APC, so there is no reason  some of us will now be treated as if we came from the opposition. I think surprisingly, this is the first time we are having it so good, that all 24 members are APC and we are in government.

“So whatever internal dispute that arises should be manageable rather than this looking like a war situation where people have been declared as enemies, we are not enemies of anybody and I as a person, I do not see anybody as my enemy. I have always believed that we have a leadership.

“If we differ on an issue, it can always be resolved. I never expected that this situation would degenerate to this extent, a situation where they declare some people as persona non grata to the party, where do they expect us to go? We do not have any other party.

“If they use sledge hammer to deal with us, how do we now coordinate ourselves within the party to fight the opposition?

“We have had assemblies in the past that had a mix of APC and the opposition and we were able to carry ourselves,  so how much more now that we are all from the same party that we cannot work together?

”The ill wind does not blow anyone any good because at the end of the day, the party will suffer. Can  you imagine where they conspicuously shut out 15 constituencies from the assembly? How do you operate the House of 24 with nine constituencies?

“Our people are not happy back home and whether you like it or not, no matter what name they call us, we have our people back home. I do not think we should allow this crisis go beyond this. The leadership should not expect that everybody reasons the same way.

“In a democracy, there are bound to be divergent views. If the leadership wants a particular thing done, I think it should be about persuasion just as we saw at the national level, it is not about whipping because you cannot whip a child and  expect that the child would not cry, it is something that can be managed.

“The party does not need to use the iron hand to whip its members under control. We have elections ahead, are they expecting that this crisis should linger until election, where are we going to stand?

“I am particularly embarrassed because we are just washing our dirty linen in the public and the opposition parties are dancing and clapping that we are having crisis.”

Dissenting members should come for inauguration – Onabun

Hon Marcus Onabun of Esan West constituency, who is among the nine inaugurated, said: “It beats my imagination to hear that there are still issues. The quarrel of my other colleagues as far as I am concerned was that the governor did not issue proclamation letter for the inauguration of the Assembly.

“Now that the Assembly has been inaugurated, they have the opportunity to come and take their oath of office and represent their constituencies because they have a responsibility. If they refuse to, then the public should ask them why

”There are no issues, I beg to differ that there are issues, if there are issues, they should come and we resolve them among ourselves. The people elected us on the same platform and we all read the party constitution and manifesto before our nomination.

“So whatever happened along the line, their people need to be represented. Nobody has said they will not be inaugurated, our appeal is for them to come and take their oath of office so that their constituencies will not lack.”

 Let us bury the hatchet– Oshiomah

Hon Waziri Oshiomah of Etsako West Constituency II told Vanguard: “My take on the crisis in Edo State House of Assembly is that the people of the state want the best from the lawmakers. The crisis in the House should end as soon as possible so that the government of the day can carry out its responsibilities to the people in accordance with the oath the governor has taken. There is nothing that is hot that will not be cold.”

Assembly should be properly inaugurated – Edoro  

Hon Victor Edoro representing Esan Central constituency noted:“In the eyes of the law, there is nothing like a House in Edo State. The Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria made provision for the existence of a House of Assembly and what happened in the state is illegal. The way toward is for the Clerk of the House to write and invite all members – elect to the House of Assembly and inaugurate it, followed by the election of the Speaker. Unless this is done, any other thing done is illegal.”

House should be re-inaugurated – Gani Audu

His Etsako West Constituency I counterpart, Hon Gani Audu, asserted: “An inauguration event is supposed to be ceremonious. The state government is supposed to print invitation cards, give them to members – elect for the invitation of their family members, friends and well-wishers. Therefore, we should all condemn what happened in the state and it should not stand.

“I am not looking at myself as Gani Audu, but the future of this country. Some thing is fundamentally wrong in the country and we ought to correct it. The only way forward is that we call for a new inauguration of the Assembly by the Clerk of the House.

“If Frank Okiye emerges as the Speaker, I will be the first to congratulate him if the normal thing is done. It is not about Gani Audu, but the institution, it behooves on all of us to make the institutions strong. There is nothing better than persuasion in politics, when you resort to coercion, making people to follow you, whether they like it or not, that is not good,” he added.