Press release
Our attention has been drawn to reports in a section of the media purporting that the Edo State House of Assembly now sits in the office/chamber of the Governor of the State, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole following the commencement of repair works at the Hallowed Chamber of the Assembly at the Anthony Enahoro House.
For the avoidance of doubt, the Office of Mr. Speaker wishes to inform the general public that such reports are not only patently false and mischievous but another phase in what is now clearly a coordinated assault on the legislative branch in Edo State by desperate anti-democratic forces. Their intention is to cast the legislative branch in bad light, thereby eroding its integrity in the eyes of the good people of Edo State.
As a temporary measure, the State Assembly has had to move its plenary to the old Chamber of the Legislature so that normal proceedings continue pending the completion of the repair of the Hallowed Chamber at the Anthony Enahoro House willfully vandalized last week by suspended Honorable Festus Ebea and his cohorts aided and abetted by some unpatriotic policemen. They had forcibly broke in, in fragrant disobedience of a valid court order restraining them from the precinct of the Assembly.
For those of us with a deep sense of history, sitting inside the old chamber in the past few days not only fills us with pride but also inspires in us a feeling of reunion with our past legislative heroes and heroines dating back to the Midwest, old Bendel State and later Edo State. We feel their illustrious spirits in this old chamber. So, it would not be an overstatement to, in fact, described the old chamber as the cradle of the legislative tradition in our dear state. Only the ignorant, only the mischief-makers would choose to ignore this historic fact. It is on record that this same old chamber was in use up till 1999 when the People’s Democratic Party was in the Majority in the House with a PDP Speaker presiding.
By blockading the State Assembly, the evil intention of suspended Honorable Festus Ebea and his cohorts aided and abetted by PDP-controlled police is increasingly getting clear: arrest Edo House of Assembly and stall our democratic march. But they have failed as the duly constituted State Assembly has since resumed its plenary and oversight functions on the executive branch.
In conclusion, let me use this opportunity to appeal to the good people of our dear State to remain calm and law-abiding even in the face of sheer provocation by the anti-democratic forces currently flexing their muscles. The just shall be vindicated.
Signed:
Right Honorable Uyi Igbe,
Speaker, Edo State House of Assembly
