SIMON EBEGBULEM, BENIN CITY

The Edo State House of Assembly was supposed to have resumed from its recess last week Monday, 22nd of May 2017 but an attempt to impeach the Speaker of the House, Mr Justin Okonobo truncated it. The incident caused fresh tension in the state particularly as it occurred barely two weeks after the Speaker of the Delta State House of Assembly, Mr Monday Igbuya was impeached. Before the House proceeded on its two months recess towards the end of March, some of the lawmakers were said to be angry with the Speaker over the manner some contracts were awarded.

It was alleged that some of the contract awards did not pass through the Tender’s Board. Saturday Vanguard however confirmed that the contracts awarded passed through the Board but some of the lawmakers were just unhappy with the style of leadership of the Speaker. They therefore mooted the idea of bringing back the former Speaker, Victor Edoror who was impeached early last year. Okonobo and Edoror are both from Edo Central senatorial district of the state where the seat was ceded to.

•Governor Godwin Obaseki and the Speaker Edo State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Justin Okonoboh shaking hands

The tension however heightened on Sunday 21st May, 2017 a day before the resumption of proceedings when the Principal Officers of the House met to prepare grounds for the resumption of the whole house. The meeting became rowdy when the news filtered that some members were already collecting signatures to impeach the Speaker.

This was being done quietly so as to catch the Speaker’s men unaware. It was learnt that the group backing the ex-Speaker Edoror had already collected 18 signatures and planned to effect the impeachment the following day. But unfortunately, the planned coup leaked, and the pro Okonobo forces contacted the state government and leaders of the party who pressured some of the members who had earlier signed to withdraw their signatures.

There was therefore confusion on Monday morning when newsmen went to the Assembly complex to confirm if the House would sit. They waited to no avail, until it was learnt that the lawmakers were holding marathon meetings to save Okonobo from being impeached. The Speaker, in his reaction, tried to play down the attempted impeachment and attributed it to part of the skirmishes always experienced in Houses of Assembly which according to him, was normal. “We are renovating our chambers, our generators and public address system are being worked on.

Regarding what you are referring to as division in the House, there is no House of Assembly in the world where you cannot find division. In a gathering of a 24- member House, we cannot think or reason the same way. But what we do is to struggle to present a common front before the people of Edo state. In the House, minorities will have their say but the majority will have their way. What is being experienced is normal in the House”.

But one of his staunch supporters, the APC lawmaker representing Oredo West, Mr Okaiben, did not mince words when he described the incident in the House as a failed coup. “What we are experiencing now is an everyday thing. It was rumoured sometime ago that there were plans to bring back the former Speaker, Victor Edoror, we played it down because we wanted to manage information. He wanted to come back but we know what is good for us.

If you set the right standards you will never have problem. If Edoror got it right from the beginning why should you have problem or get worried about what is happening in the House. Yes, there are people who are not happy in the House, there are a lot of intrigues but it is not something we should worry ourselves about. I have always said that the kind of House I want to be associated with is to stay away from violence. If you feel the leadership of this man is not favourable, you don’t need to plot a coup. Sit the man down and tell him, you are not leading us well, so we want you to step aside and let someone else step into your shoes.

But in this instance, a man (Edoror) who was found guilty of some offences as Speaker of the House was still going around trying to look for signatures so he can come back as Speaker of the House, I don’t see where that will happen. They are heating up the polity and we are just resuming work. They need 16 signatures to remove a Speaker, and if they don’t have the 16 signatures, they cannot even access the plenary and of course if they persist, we all know the consequences of a failed coup” he stated.

However, it was gathered that pressure from party leaders and the state government forced some pro-Edoror lawmakers to withdraw their signatures but at the end he had 11 lawmakers as against 13 now backing Okonobo. The lawmakers were said to have moved that Monday to government House on the invitation of Governor Godwin Obaseki who frowned at the attempt to impeach the Speaker. Obaseki was said to have told the lawmakers not to plunge the state into a fresh crisis as he was focused on how to fulfil his campaign promises and not change of leadership in the House.

His position strengthened the pro-Okonobo camp and that saved the day for the Speaker. After meeting with the lawmakers, the governor directed his Deputy, Comrade Philip Shaibu to further resolve the burning issues since he is more experienced in legislative matters being a former two time Majority Leader of the House and House of Representatives member.

The meeting between the lawmakers and the Deputy Governor Wednesday night was successful as it afforded the warring parties to bare their mind. The Deputy Governor who delivered the governor’s message to the lawmakers, said the governor desired to have a peaceful state so as to fulfil his campaign promises to the people and not a change of leadership in the House. He urged them to embrace the House leadership led by Okonobo just as he urged the Speaker to carry his members along and avoid actions capable of brewing suspicion and unnecessary bickering. Following the peaceful resolution of the crisis, the House resumed sitting last Tuesday.

But what is worrisome in this matter is that Edo Central senatorial district, known as the Esans, where the APC zoned the position of the Speaker to, are acting the same script which the South East acted when the PDP zoned the President of the senate to the zone. Most Esan Speakers ended being impeached due to what was always referred as alleged greed by the concerned persons. And each time they were impeached they end up beating a return and that was what gave the ex-Speaker Edoror hope. In 1991, when Chief John Odigie Oyegun was governor, Mathew Egbadon was Speaker, but he was impeached after about eight months in office. In 1999, Thomas Okosun became Speaker but was impeached after six months and Egbadon returned to complete his tenure. Though Okosun enjoyed the support of members but the PDP hierarchy then in the state ousted him and brought Egbadon whom they believed will better act their script. In 2003, Friday Itulah emerged as Speaker, but was impeached after one year and another Esan man David Iyoha became Speaker. Iyoha was impeached after a year and Itulah came back to possess his possession and completed the tenure. In 2007, Zakawanu Garuba who is from Edo North district spent three years and he would have completed his four years if not for the bloody coup the then ACN lawmakers executed which ended the PDP dominance in the House. The ACN now anointed another Esan man Bright Omokhodion as Speaker following his defection to ACN then.

After Omokhodion, Uyi Igbe, the first Benin man to be Speaker came in 2010 as Speaker until he completed his tenure in 2015. After Igbe, Victor Edoror an Esan man mounted the saddle but was impeached barely one year into his tenure and the only woman in the House, Mrs Elizabeth Ativie, from Edo South (Benin area) was elected Speaker. She did very well but because the change distorted the political tripod in the state, the leadership of the party led then by Governor Adams Oshiomhole pleaded with House leadership to pick somebody from Esan land and that was how the lot fell on Okonobo.

But it is still not yet uhuru for Okonobo because the challenge before most of those who are backing him is that they will not have an alternative in Esan land if he is removed and not because they love him so much. The only alternative will be to bring back Edoror which they are not ready to do, due to his alleged greed. It is however argued that the moment they have an alternative in Esan or decide to ignore the party’s tripod arrangement and return the Speakership to Mrs Ativie who is from Edo South, which some of them are already suggesting, Okonobo will be sacrificed.