Politics
Edo Assembly crisis: Obaseki tackles Oshiomhole, accuses him of bias
Edo State governor, Godwin Obaseki has accused his predecessor and chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Adams Oshiomhole of bias in the ongoing tussle over the election of speaker of the state assembly.
Obaseki in a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Communication Strategy, Mr Crusoe Osagie on Saturday, said the former governor needed to hear from all sides in the matter before taking sides, while expressing disappointment at the APC chairman’s statement.
“We read with utter astonishment a statement credited to the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, Adams Oshiomhole, with respect to Governor Godwin Obaseki’s alleged role in the inauguration of the Edo State House of Assembly,” the statement read.
“Apart from the fact that he based his conclusion on a totally false and baseless premise, we believe that he could have shown that he didn’t have a vested interest by simply inquiring from his friend, the governor, directly, or any official of the State Working Committee of our party to what actually transpired.
“Oshiomhole’s failure to satisfy the basic tenets of natural justice which makes fair hearing from all sides of a matter mandatory, has clearly exposed his bias in this issue.”
The APC chairman had at a press conference on the political developments in Edo and Bauchi state houses of assembly, said the cases in the two states were similar and shameful, and had to be reversed.
“I am ashamed to talk about it, but there is nothing to hide. We have a similar situation in Edo, where in our case we have 24/24, all of them APC but somebody wants a particular person as a Speaker, 19 out of 24 are opposed to this person,” Oshiomhole had said.
Fifteen of the 24 elected lawmakers were allegedly barred from the inauguration of the 7th House of Assembly last week, while the remaining nine elected the speaker.
The aggrieved lawmakers have, meanwhile, reported Governor Obaseki to Department of State Services and Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, for allegedly threatening their lives.
They accuse Obaseki of providing police cover to thugs to attack them while having a meeting at a Benin hotel.
The spokesman for the aggrieved lawmakers, Washington Osifo, told Punch on Saturday that they were forced to file the petition because they no longer felt safe in the state.
“We were having our meeting on June 18 when the Chief Security Officer to the governor led some thugs under the protection of Government House police to attack us.
“The police that we thought came to rescue us only released us on self-recognition. It means we were actually detained. Some of us sustained injuries in the attack.”
Similar situation had played out in Bauchi were 11 of the 31 members of the Assembly shut out 20 others from the inauguration and elected principal officers.
The Bauchi assembly consists of 22 APC, eight Peoples Democratic Party and one New Nigeria Peoples Party.
