Obaseki not responsible for Edo Assembly crisis — Speaker

The Speaker of Edo House of Assembly, Mr Francis Okiye, on Wednesday debunked the allegation that Gov. Godwin Obaseki induced the crisis rocking the state house of assembly.

Okiye in a news conference held in Benin was reacting to a claim by the former Secretary to the state government, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu, that the governor’s mishandling of the assembly proclamation caused the crisis in APC.

Okiye said that the governor did everything possible to prevent the crisis that was forced on the party by some political gladiators.

“For the record, the debilitating controversy that has engulfed the polity and the state APC actually predated the proclamation by the governor for the inauguration of the seventh assembly.

“If not, our brothers who are today victims of power control quest would not have waited for an alternative proclamation after the office that is constitutionally saddled has done so.

“It was a wrong move.

“It is important to make clear that the problem that created this avoidable crisis was as a result of some persons wanting to dictate the political affairs of the state at the expence of the governor,” he said.

According to him, if we as politicians must fight in anyway we must never do so to the disadvantage of the our state.

Okiye, however, explained that the failure of the former lawmakers-elect to present themselves for inauguration led to the declaration of their seats vacant.

He said “we did what we did not to hurt anybody but to bring sanity to politics and governance in our state and to assert the importance of legislative arm of government.

Our correspondent recalls that the crisis rocking the Assembly started after the inauguration of 12 out of the 24 members of the house on June 17, 2019.