SOUTH-SOUTH LAWMAKERS FAULT EDO SPEAKER'S REMOVAL
nerPostTitle">SOUTH-SOUTH LAWMAKERS FAULT EDO SPEAKER'S REMOVAL Written by furtune Politics http://www.nigerianbestforum.com/blog/?author=25 http://www.nigerianbestforum.com/blog/?cat=57 Mar 2, 2010
South-South lawmakers fault Edo speaker's removal
By Festus Owete and Ifedayo Adebayo
March 2, 2010 03:08AM
http://www.nigerianbestforum.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/dt.common.streams.StreamServer11.jpeg Zakawanu Garuba, suspended Speaker, Edo State House of Assembly.
A group of South-South legislators have called on the federal government to wade into the alleged breach of the constitution in the removal of the speaker of the Edo State House of Assembly and his deputy.
The group, in a statement signed by its chairman, Sunday Perebembo, and secretary, Ezekiel Ukah, said the action was carried out through an act of forgery and asked that it be investigated.
The lawmakers said they are 'worried over the spate of abuse of the constitution, forgery and use violence at the hallowed chambers of Edo State House of Assembly, which is now a great threat to democracy in Nigeria.'
It also stated that the three members (Patrick Aisowieren, Saiki Samuel and Israel Aguele,) who were said to have joined 13 other lawmakers to make up 16, have sworn an affidavit at a High Court denying ever putting their pen on any such document.
Threat to lives
Meanwhile, the Edo Consultative Forum (ECF) has also expressed worry over the alleged threat to the lives of 11 Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) members of the Edo State House of Assembly, saying the development is not unknown to the politics of the state.
The forum also challenged the 13 Action Congress members of the House to make the impeachment petition allegedly signed by the 16 members public through an advertorial in any of the national newspapers before the new speaker, Bright Omokhodion, would be recognised by the indigenes of the state.
The Edo group, in a statement signed by Uyi Edo Osagie and Philomena Momodu, chairman and secretary, said the former speaker, Zakawanu Garba, and 10 other members of the House fled to Abuja because their lives and those of their family members had come under threat.
Illegal election?
'Since last week when the Speaker of the House of Assembly, Zakawanu Garba, adjourned sittings, culminating in Governor Adams Oshomhole's Action Congress members illegally electing Bright Omokhodion as their speaker, threats of attack and kidnap of the families of the PDP legislators have increased… The PDP members have consistently been threatened by unknown phone callers in Benin City along with their loved ones, to either keep quiet or be killed.
'We are not comfortable with this development in our polity. We, the elders in Edo State, have deemed it necessary to call on the 13 Action Congress legislators including Bright Omokhodion to make the impeachment petition allegedly signed by the 16 members of the House of Assembly public through a full page advertorial in any of the national dailies before their new speaker can be recognized by Edo State indigenes,' it said.
The forum also congratulated Abdul Oroh, who resigned as the state's information commissioner.