Hon Frank Okiye, the speaker of the Edo State House of Assembly, has dismissed talks that the crisis in the Edo State All Progressives Congress was caused by the Assembly crisis.
Okiye who spoke at a press briefing in Benin City said the primary election that produced the House of assembly candidates were threatened by inordinate interest.
The Edo Speaker noted that failure of the party’s National Chairman, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole to campaign with the local chapter of the party during the Presidential election sent a wrong signal to party members.
“For the record, the deliberating controversy that has engulfed the polity and in particular the Edo state APC, actually predated the proclamation by Mr Governor which convened the inaugural sitting of the current legislative session.
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If not our brothers who are today victims of power control quest, we would not have waited for an alternative proclamation or signal from another quarter after the office that is duly and constitutionally saddled has done so. It was a wrong move”.
“As a chief stakeholder in the Edo political project, the role expected of Oshiomhole then was out of honour, respect and also so that the governor is not accused of being overbearing in influence.
He stated that “the main actors in the crisis, Governor Obaseki and Comrade Oshiomhole have in the past confirmed or alluded to this concern in their respective utterances”.
“That is why the claim by a former Secretary to the state government, Pastor Ize Iyamu that Governor Obaseki’s mishandling of the state house of assembly proclamation caused the crisis, is not only self-serving, it is an evidence of political dementia suffered by someone wallowing in utter ignorance but is desperately seeking a momentary popularity”.
Okiye added that “it is not hidden to the good people of Edo that Governor Obaseki being a peace-loving leader has prioritized development and reforms as the cornerstone of his administration, and has equally tried to avoid politics of distraction.
He said “as elected public officials we are not bigger than those who elected us. We are in fact subject to the people who elected us; they are our masters, they are our leaders, our paymasters and we cannot under any guise abdicate the responsibilities they freely gave us on the altar of cheap band bitter politics”
