The House of
Representatives on Wednesday warned Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State to
inaugurate a fresh 7th Edo House of Assembly within one week or it will take
over the functions of the Assembly.
The House
threatened to take over the Assembly over the crisis rocking it in line with
Section 11(4) of the 1999 Constitution as amended.
This was the
submission of the report of the Ad-hoc Committee on the need for Intervention
in the Edo State House of Assembly crisis chaired by Rep. Abdulrazak Namdas
(APC-Adamawa), which was submitted at the plenary on Wednesday.
The house,
however, said it would not carry out the threat if Obaseki issued a fresh
proclamation to inaugurate the Seventh Edo State House of Assembly within one
week in line with Section 105(3) of the constitution.
The report
also added that Obaseki should publish the date, time and venue of the
inauguration in any national daily and television station.
The report
also recommended that all actions were already taken by the members of the current
assembly should be declared null and void pending proper inauguration.
It also
recommended that all members of the assembly, both those who had been
inaugurated and those not yet inaugurated should dissolve their factions.
This, it
stated, would be in the interest of peace and stability of the house with the
view to moving the state forward.
The report
also recommended that the Inspector General of Police and the Director-General,
Department of State Service should shut down the State House of Assembly and
provide adequate security.
The report
said this would allay further fears of intimidation and threat as alleged by
members-elect.
It said that
where the recommendations failed, “the National Assembly should invoke the
Provisions of Section 11(4) of the 1999 Constitution to take over the State
House of Assembly until the situation normalises”.
A 13-member the committee, on July 10, commenced investigations into the assembly crisis
following a unanimous adoption of a motion under matters of urgent national
importance by Rep. Julius Ihonvbere (APC-Edo).
Ihonvbere
had expressed concern over the improper inauguration of the Seventh House of
Assembly on June 17 and that nine out of the 24 elected members were sworn in
without the knowledge of the other 15 members-elect.
Ihonvbere
also alleged that the clerk of the house secretly inaugurated the nine
members-elect at about 9.30p.m. which, according to him, was outside the time
of legislative business.
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