Edo Assembly crisis: lawmakers-elect bemoan stalemate, six months after

Bolaji Ogundele, Abuja

President Muhammadu Buhari has been asked to ensure the right thing is done to finally put the Edo State House of Assembly crisis to rest.

Fourteen members-elect of the House of Assembly, who made the call on Monday at a press briefing in Abuja, also tasked the National Assembly and National Working Committee (NWC) of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to deal with the alleged excesses of the state governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki.

The fourteen lawmakers-elect, led by Hon. Washington Osa Osifo, said more than five months after the Edo House of Assembly crisis blew open and it became obvious that the state governor had imposed 10 members over 14, nothing has been done to correct the situation.

According to the group, Governor Obaseki’s action had constituted an embarrassment to the party, adding that contrary to what the party represents, in terms of a strong aversion to any semblance of corruption, as championed by President Buhari; Governor Obaseki has gone below the bar.

They therefore charged President Buhari to fulfill his promise at the beginning of the crisis to see to it that the right thing is done.

“We want to thank the President for the job he is doing for Nigerians. One thing that counts well for him as a man of integrity is that he has the courage to fight corruption. Corruption comes in many ways because when you brazenly stand on the head of democracy that is the greatest form of corruption because it opens the window for people to do the wrong thing, just as it is in Edo where funds are wrongly deployed to fighting a cause that is needless just to realize a second term ambition.

“We want to call on him and also to remind him that this party promised change to the people. We came on the mantra of change and so in all that we do, we must have the consciousness that people are watching. How can it be said that an APC state is embarrassing the nation like this? It is not the intention of Mr. President to run a government like this.

“Mr President we call on you to remember that you sent a message to the Edo parliament, yet to be inaugurated when our brothers in Bauchi visited you some months ago, you told them that the reason why they were inaugurated was to defend the laws and Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. That to subscribe to illegality would be a very wrong thing to do and through them you sent us a message that they should be men of honour.

“You sent another message to us that immediately your cabinet is inaugurated, the first assignment for your Attorney General and Minister of Justice will be to look at the situation in Bauchi and Edo States with a view to resolving them. In your words, you said ‘I will summon the IGP to see to it that these wrongs are made right. The issue is that this madness in Edo must be corrected,” he said.

Addressing the National Assembly, the lawmakers reminded the federal lawmakers of their resolution, asking the governor to issue a proclamation for the inauguration of the Assembly, saying if they abdicate their duties, nothing will go right in the country.

“As for the National Assembly NASS, we want to commend them and also urge them to do what is right because they are the first in the lawmaking body and perhaps the tallest in governance. Therefore, if they abdicate their rights, nothing will go well in this country. Gov. Obaseki and his aides boasted that nothing will come out of the National Assembly investigation and now we are thinking, is that boast coming to fruition?

“We have our doubts because we believe in the National Assembly that they are men and women of integrity and our prayer for them is that may their words never come to nullity because it is better not to make any judgment than to make one that will be rendered useless or not be obeyed.

“As for the NWC of our great party, we want to thank them and pledge our loyalty to them and that we are grateful for the tickets they gave go us to run. There is no independent candidature. We want to tell them that we are loyal and will never bring embarrassment to the party because we are men of integrity but we want to tell them that yes, justice is good. It can also be delayed, yes. But when it is delayed for too long, it becomes manifest injustice. We want to call on them to look at the laws and the Constitution that regulate the activities of the party and where they need to use it, let them have the courage to use it,” the lawmakers said.