Obaseki to Reps: You can’t shut Edo Assembly

Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki, yesterday maintained that the House of Representatives lacked the constitutional powers to shut the state House of Assembly.

Governor Obaseki was responding to Wednesday’s resolution of the lower chamber of the National Assembly ordering the Inspector General of Police (IGP) and the Director-General of the Department of State Services (DSS) to seal off the complex until a ‘proper inauguration’ was done.

In a statement in Benin City, Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Osarodion Ogie, insisted that “there is nowhere in the 1999 Constitution (as amended) where the House of Representatives or even the National Assembly for that matter, is granted the right or power to shut down a State House of Assembly.”

“The government and people of Edo State are appalled and disappointed at the gross illegality and abuse of process by the House of Representatives.

“It must first of all be pointed out that the emergency supervisory powers over the activities of State Houses of Assembly which are contained in Section 11 of the Constitution of our Republic are expressly donated to the National Assembly and not one individual arm of it.

“These powers certainly do not extend to issuing directives to a duly elected state governor to unlawfully repeat an act which has already been fully carried out in line with the constitution.

“It has further not been alleged or concluded by anyone that the Edo State House of Assembly is unable to sit. In fact, whenever the ‘self-exiled’ members-elect so choose, they can join their colleagues in plenary in Benin City.

“It is also instructive to note that while the members of the House of Representatives were busy in Abuja issuing their unlawful and unconstitutional orders, the fact-finding delegation of the Distinguished Senate was in Benin meeting with stakeholders with a view to fashioning a road map to peace in our land.

“Students of history will recall that the crises in the Western Region Parliament in the 1960s, which triggered a conflagration that eventually engulfed the entire nation, were precipitated by a similar attempt to use ‘federal might’ to muzzle, intimidate and overwhelm the functionaries of a federating unit outside the due process of law.

“Since the situation in the Edo State House of Assembly is a matter currently pending before two courts of competent jurisdiction, the Government of Edo State would not follow the contemptuous example of those who are currently commenting, adjudicating upon and giving directives on matters currently being litigated upon.”