That the Edo State House of Assembly is polarized along the two rival parties in the state on the one hand and supporters and die hard opponents of Governor Adams Oshiomhole is no longer news. What is being awaited is the likely outcome of the crisis that has engulfed the state legislature in the past three weeks.
?As part of the crisis of confidence, legislators on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Peoples Democratic
Party (PDP)?on Monday?conducted two parallel?plenary amidst tight security.
While the allegedly suspended Deputy Speaker of the House, Hon. Festus Ebea led other eight (8)?PDP lawmakers to hold session inside the hallowed chamber of the Assembly complex whose?roof was removed last Friday on the order of the State executive with the excuse of the complex undergoing renovation.
In spite of the removal of the roof, the PDP legislators sat but under a charged and intense atmosphere in?the morning hours. Similarly, 14 APC legislators at the same time met at Government House, Benin City to hold their sitting.
Speaking to journalists after the sitting of his faction, Ebea said the lawmakers 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 further said 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.
The House directed Governor Oshiomhole to as a matter of urgency pay the?outstanding entitlements of the recalled teachers and instruct the18 Local Government chairmen to forward their receipts of cash?disbursements to the House.
The heavy presence of security operatives at the assembly complex?caused gridlocks on major roads at the Kings square.
Persecondnews
