There was pandemonium yesterday within the Edo State House of
Assembly amid sporadic gunshots as the Speaker, Victor Edoror was
impeached by 16 of the 24 members of the assembly.
Thugs invaded the chamber shooting everywhere and in the process, not
less than six persons were injured.Trouble started when the Majority
Leader, Folly Ogedegbe, moved a motion for the impeachment of the
speaker and the Deputy Speaker, Bright Osayande. The motion was seconded
by the member representing Esan North East, Patrick Iluobe.
The motion reads in part: “We the under-listed and undersigned
honourable members representing the various constituencies in the Edo
State House of Assembly have on this day 3rd of May 2016 resolved to
impeach our speaker, Hon. Chief Victor Edoror Tiger and the Deputy
Speaker Hon. Osayande for acts of gross misconduct.”
Iluobe was later appointed as Speaker extempore to preside over the
business of the day .A new speaker, Mrs. Elizabeth Ativie representing
Uhunmwode was elected while Dr. Joseph Okonoboh representing Igueben was
elected deputy speaker.
Immediately the new speaker was sworn in, Edoror and his deputy
walked into the chamber in company of the thugs shooting sporadically to
scare people out of the chambers. In the process a lot of peoples
sustained injuries.
Addressing reporters immediately after the fracas, the new speaker,
Ativie said the members could no longer tolerate the greedy nature of
the speaker.
She said the impeached speaker had up to six different financial
cases with the EFCC and the members could not continue to allow such a
person to lead the House.
She therefore said that a five-member committee headed by Kabiru
Adjoto representing Akoko-Edo 1 would investigate the financial
recklessness of the impeached speaker from June 2015 till May 3rd.
She said if found wanting at the end of the three months when the
committee would submit their report he would be handed over to the
appropriate authorit
Adjoto said: “As it is today, Edoror has a lot of EFCC cases hanging
on his neck. You media men can go and verify this, we cannot afford to
have a speaker that is being investigated by the EFCC because of his
corrupt nature. As earlier mentioned by our new speaker, Edoror has a
corrupt tendency that cannot be mentioned. Enough is enough, that is why
16 members of the house today signed an impeachment notice against him.
As we speak today, both APC and PDP members in the House signed the
impeachment notice against him.”
Shortly after the sitting, Edoror and six other lawmakers also met in
the chamber claiming that there was nothing like impeachment in the
assembly.
It could also be recalled that the 24 members of the House revolted
against the leadership of the Speaker recently which culminated in a
rowdy plenary session over alleged refusal by the state government to
buy them official vehicles which later forced the House to proceed on
indefinite vacation.
Meanwhile, some reporters who were in the impeached speaker’s office
to get his reaction to the alleged corruption by him, were beaten and
rough-handled by suspected thugs.
Despite the presence of fully armed security men in the office, the
journalists, who were more than 20 in number, were ambushed by the thugs
as soon as the ex-speaker was through with addressing the press.
posted by Oscar Jonathan
No comments:
Post a Comment