The crisis rocking the Edo State All Progressives Congress (APC) took another dimension, Wednesday, December 4, as the State House of Assembly declared 14 out of the 24 seats vacant, calling on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to conduct by-election within 90 days for the affected constituencies.
The House cited constitutional provisions that a member is given 180 days to be absent from sitting after which such member seat would be declared vacant.
The House, during its sitting on Wednesday, which also saw it passing the 2020 appropriation bill into law, also affirmed the removal of the chairman of Estako East Local Government Area, Alhaji Aramiyau Momoh.
Speaker of the state House of Assembly, Hon. Frank Okiye said 12 of the seats were declared vacant because the members-elect have not presented themselves for inauguration since the letter of proclamation of June 17, 2019, while two other members representing Oredo East and Owan East were declared vacant because the two members; Ekhosuehi Uyi and Barr Okaka Eric have failed to attend the sitting after the day of inauguration.
“12 out of the 24 members-elect who completed their screening and documentation process were inaugurated on June 17, 2019, out of which two of them have refused to discharge their legislative duties.
“They have refused to represent their constituents in the House invariably denying their constituents effective representation. At this point, I am declaring the seats of the 12 members-elect vacant in accordance with section 109 subsection 1F of the constitution,” he said.
Deputy Speaker of the House, Hon. Yekini Idiaye, representing Akoko Edo State Constituency I, listed the seats declared vacant as: Etsako West I, Etsako West II, Owan East, Owan West, Etsako Central, Etsako East and Esan Central.
Others are Uhunmwonde, Oredo East, Oredo West, Egor, Ovia North East I, Ovia North East II and Ovia South-West I.
He noted that the House has been inundated with petitions from members of the constituents of the affected lawmakers.
“Their constituents have been complaining and have come to us that they want their voices and concerns to be heard at the House. So, people who are willing to provide quality representation have to be elected to bring the matters of the distraught constituents to the floor for debate and legislation, where necessary.”
Reacting, the lawmaker elect for Uhunmwonde constituency, Washington Osifo, described the action as laughable, saying the issue is already in court and the House cannot take such an action which he said is prejudicial.
He said, “It is a laughing matter, it is a joking matter, the matter is before a court and when a matter is before the court such action is prejudice. We are challenging the illegal inauguration of the house and anything put on nothing cannot stand so Okiye is a man that is in search of identity, he is working with the governor in the pursuit of blind ambition, they have hit the rock.
“Information got to us as early as last week that he met a group who call themselves a union of PDP candidates who contested the election. He held a meeting with them and they agreed that they should write a petition to the house and it is on that premise they did what they did today. It also confirms what is been on the ground that the governor wants to hand over the state to the PDP”
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