TheNewsGuru

Tag: Edo Speaker

  • Just in: Edo Speaker declares 14 seats vacant

    The crisis rocking the Edo State House of Assembly took another twist on Wednesday as Speaker Francis Okiye declared 14 seats vacant.

    The 14 seats declared vacant are those of the 12 members-elect that are yet to present themselves for inauguration and two lawmakers that allegedly absconded after being inaugurated.

    Those whose seats were declared vacant were Chris Okaeben (Oredo West), Crosby Eribo (Egor) Washington Osifo (Uhunmwode) Ugiagbe Dumez (Ovia North East 1) Vincent Uwadiae ( Ovia North East 11) Sunday Aghedo (Ovia South West) Victor Edoror (Esan Central) Emmanuel Agbaje (Akoko-Edo 11) Eric Okaka (Owan East) Micheal Ohio-Ezo (Owan West) Oshoma Ahmed (Estako Central) Kingsley Ugabi (Estako East) and Ehi Ekhosuehi (Oredo West).

    Okaka and Ekhosuehi were the two lawmakers whose seats were declared vacant for not meeting mandatory sitting requirement to continue as members of the House.

    The 12 members-elect and the two other lawmakers have been in Abuja since June and they have been demanding for a fresh proclamation to be issued and a proposed inauguration conducted.

    Making the announcement during an emergency plenary session Wednesday, Speaker Okiye urged the Independent National Electoral Commission to conduct bye-elections for the affected constituencies within 90 days.

    Deputy Speaker of the House, Hon. Yekini Idiaye, representing Akoko Edo State Constituency I, who spoke to newsmen, explained that two of those affected from Oredo East and Owan East, were sworn-in but failed to meet the mandatory 181-day sitting requirement for a member in a calendar year.

    He said, “For others, who hadn’t been inaugurated since the proclamation of House, their constituents have been complaining and have come to us that they want their voices and concerns to be heard at the House.

    Read Also; ‘Ease of doing business reforms yielding positive results in Edo’
    “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 to the declaration of seats vacant, Okaeben said Okiye has no powers to make such pronouncement or asked INEC to conduct bye-elections.

    Okaeben stated that Edo, currently, has no House of Assembly as spelt out by the Nigeria Constitution.

    He said the House did not also form a quorum.

    His words, “They want us to toe the path of violence but we have said nobody’s blood is worth a seat in the Assembly. We will pursue our case in a constitutional way. We have no problem with Governor Obaseki since he said he has issued a proclamation.

    “The Clerk did not invite us to any inauguration. A proper inauguration is what we will attend. Okiye has said nothing today.”

    On what they would do if INEC decided to conduct bye-elections, Okaeben said Prof. Mahmoud is not a dull person not to know the truth.

    A former Speaker of the Edo Assembly, Hon Victor Edoror, said his constituents are happy with his decision to stay away from what he termed illegal Assembly.

    Edoror said, “Okiye is not a Speaker. He is a member-elect like us. The Constitution is clear on how many members should be in an Assembly.

    “Okiye has no powers to declare our seats vacant. All what is happening in the Edo Assembly are illegal and they will be swept out. My people are happy with me.”

  • Former Edo Speaker emerges new Deputy Speaker

    Immediate past Speaker of the Edo State House of Assembly, Dr. Justin Okonoboh, has been named the new Deputy Speaker.
     
    Dr. Okonoboh emerged Deputy Speaker after the impeachment of Hon Victor Edoror.
     
    Edoror was made Speaker in 2015 and was impeached in 2016. He was made Deputy Speaker in 2017 when Dr. Okonoboh was removed as Speaker.
     
    Okonoboh was first elected Speaker in 2016 and removed in 2017 for financial recklessness.
     
    Both Edoror and Okonoboh hail from Edo Central Senatorial district.

  • 2019: Edo Speaker sues APC, others over conduct of Akoko-Edo NASS primary

    The Speaker of the Edo State House of Assembly, Mr. Kabiru Adjoto, on Friday filed a suit before the Federal High Court in Benin, challenging the alleged unlawful substitution of his name as the All Progressives Congress candidate for the 2019 National Assembly poll.
    Adjoto had contested against the incumbent member representing Akoko-Edo federal constituency, Mr. Peter Akpatason, in the APC primary, whose result was not declared by the Hajia Farida Suleiman-led state primary election committee.
    Farida had said that the exercise witnessed violence, including the intimidation of voters, and would be investigated.
    Both aspirants had also claimed to have emerged winners of the primary.
    But Adjoto, in the suit marked, FHC/B/CS/118/18, with Akpatason, APC and the Independent National Electoral Commission as respondents, said that he “clearly” won the House of Representatives’ primary and urged the court to restore him as the candidate of the party.
    He lamented that though he had followed the party’s guideline to seek redress, through the panel led by a former governor of the state, Prof. Oserheimen Osunbor, the measure had not yielded any satisfactory result.
    Speaking with journalists on Friday, he explained, “In that primary election conducted by the APC, I won; the returning officer announced that I won the election. Unfortunately, the APC substituted my name with the name of the incumbent, Mr. Peter Akpatason.
    “I have explored the internal mechanism of the party; I wrote to the NWC of the APC, through the chairman, that there was the need for them to have a rethink but I did not get any reply.
    “I wrote to the Osunbor panel; I even appeared before the panel. Unfortunately, before the panel even came up with its final position on the matter, Form 001 and 002 had already been given to the person who did not win the primary election.
    “Having done that the Osunbor panel became crippled. So, I am here (in court) to say that we cannot do wrong things at all times.”
    The speaker continued, “It happened to me before; in 2011, the same thing happened. They took my ticket, after winning the primary, and gave it to another person.

  • Return official vehicles or face sanctions, Edo Assembly tells former Speaker

    The new leadership of the Edo State House of Assembly has threatened to institute criminal action against a former Speaker of the assembly, Hon Elisabeth Ativie, over refusal of Ativie to return her official vehicles.

    It said claims by the former Speaker that the vehicles were given to her by former governor Adams Oshiomhole were untrue as there was no evidence to show that Oshiomhole and the leadership of the House took such decision.

    Hon Ativie who represents Uhunmwode constituency served as Speaker for 84 days after the impeachment of Hon Victor Edoror.

    Ativie stepped down as a result of political pressure for balance of power in the state and Hon Justin Okonoboh emerged as Speaker while she became Deputy Speaker.

    Last week, both the Ativie and Okonoboh were impeached but Ativie has refused to return her official vehicles.

    Ativie had through her lawyer, Olayiwola Afolabi, written the Assembly that the vehicles were given to her by former Governor Oshiomhole as compensation for relinquishing her position as Speaker.

    She stated in the letter that she has sold one of the vehicles, a Prado Jeep 2016 model.

    Current Speaker of the Assembly, Hon Kabiru Adjoto, in a letter to Counsel to Ativie’s, lawyer, said the signature in the letter purportedly written to Ativie by Oshiomhole was not genuine.

    Speaker Adjoto in the letter signed by the clerk of the House, Mr James Omoataman, pointed out that the leadership of the House warned of severe consequences of parading such document.

    Adjoto said original documents of the vehicles were still in possession of the House.

    The letter reads in parts, “As your client will recall,the said vehicles were purchased for the use of the office of the Speaker when your client occupied the office. Consequently, when she became the Deputy Speaker, the official vehicles were left with her office whilst alternative arrangement were made for the office of the Speaker.

    “Despite the clarity of the above, your client deliberately skewed the words used in the purported letter from the former governor claiming that the former governor wrote to say the vehicles were given to her, which is far from the truth.

    “Further, the original documents of the vehicles are still in the possession of the House of Assembly till date which means that title to the vehicles were never transferred or intended to be transferred to your client contrary to your client’s assertions.

    “Accordingly, I hereby reiterate my instruction and demand your client’s immediate return of the vehicles attached to the office of the Deputy Speaker which are still in her possession. Finally, if your client maintains that she indeed sold one of the vehicles, the Lexus Jeep 2016 model, then we expect that your client will furnish us with the details of sales.

    It warned further that “the House expects to receive all the said vehicles or the vehicles that have not been sold, together with the details of the alleged sale of the Lexus jeep as enumerated not later than 2 days from the date of receipt of this letter. Failure to do so will attract the necessary legal action, both civil and criminal against your client”.

     

  • Just in: New Edo speaker, Adjoto presides over assembly’s session

    The new Edo Speaker, Mr. Kabiru Adjoto, on Tuesday performed his first duty in office by presiding over the assembly’s plenary session.

    Adjoto was sworn in on Monday following the dramatic impeachment of the member representing Igueben constituency, Dr. Justin Okonoboh, as Speaker of the House on allegations of gross misconduct.

    Also removed by 19 members, who allegedly signed the impeachment notice, were the Deputy Speaker, Mrs. Elizabeth Ativie, and the Majority Leader, Mr. Foly Ogedengbe.

    At the resumption of plenary, Okonoboh, Ativie and Ogedengbe, who had described their removal as illegal, were absent.

    However, 15 other members, including the new Deputy Speaker, Mr. Victor Edoror, and the new Majority Leader, Mr. Roland Asoro, were present in the legislative chamber.

  • Edo Speaker escapes assassination attempt

    The Speaker of the Edo House of Assembly, Mr Justin Okonoboh, on Friday evening escaped assassination attempt at Igueben Local Government Area of the state.

    Okonoboh (APC Igueben constituency) made this known when he briefed newsmen in Benin on Saturday.

    He thanked his backup driver for shading him from the assassins.

    “On my way back from my constituency at about 5.00 p.m. on Friday where I went to settle some land issues, my aide in the escort van called me from his phone that we should be on the alert that a Toyota Camry was chasing us.

    “When we looked back, the car was behind my back up Hilux van. The Camry wanted to overtake the Hilux to block me but the driver did not allow them.

    “The Toyota Camry struggled with the Hilux for about five kilometres and they almost crashed but did not give up.

    “The policemen inside the Hilux van fired a shot into the air to scare them but that did not deter them as they kept chasing us.

    “It happened around Ugbegun-Nebudin-Ujogba Road, it was when we got to the Benin-Auchi expressway they waved their hands to give us a warning.

    “I do not know whether they are armed robbers or kidnappers but I know that only assassins will behave the way the men did.

    “My security aides inside the Hilux said the men were armed.

    “I have enough security aides attached to me but the challenge is that there are no vehicles to convey them when I am traveling,” he explained.

    The Speaker said he had reported the matter to the Commissioner of Police.