Lawmakers, Oshiomhole bickers over plea to reconsider impeached Speaker

By EBEN ENASCO KINGSLEY, Benin City

ATTEMPTS by the Governor of Edo State, Adams Oshiomhole and the All Progressives Congress, APC, to resolve and reverse the impeachment of the Speaker, Victor Edoro and his deputy, Bright Osayande has hit the rock following refusal of the 16-member State House of Assembly to reverse their decision to impeach the embattled lawmakers.

The meeting followed protests by APC members in Edo Central Senatorial District of the state where the speakership was zoned to, against change of leadership.

They were of the position that the change was dangerous for the party in Esan land where the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, seems stronger, particularly as the governorship election approaches.

Meanwhile, the new Speaker of the House, Elizabeth Ativie, and the members who signed the impeachment of the former Speaker, vowed to resist any attempt by the leadership of the party to persuade them to return Edoror.

Some of the members who confided in Vanguard after their meeting, said they were ready to dump the party for the PDP rather than bring back the impeached Speaker.

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It was gathered that the governor attempted to persuade the lawmakers to change their decision but each of the members narrated to the governor and leaders of the party how the ex-speaker had let them down, adding that while the ex-speaker was getting richer, majority of them were getting poorer.

They informed the governor that while the ex-Speaker allegedly receives N54 million for the running of the Assembly monthly, their quarters look like poultry pens just as the ex-speaker never carried them along on how the N54 million was expended.

The lawmakers lamented that while the ex-speaker received N9.5 million monthly for running his office, other lawmakers receive their normal N370,000 as salaries, adding that of the 45 special adviser positions allocated to the Assembly, the ex-speaker appropriated 25 for himself while most of the ordinary members were left out.

The impeached speaker and his deputy, who were also at the meeting were helpless when the angry lawmakers confronted them with these facts.

When Oshiomhole observed that the lawmakers were not ready to listen to his pleas, he quickly had separate meetings with other leaders of the party, including the state chairman of APC, Anslem Ojezua, who is from the same senatorial district with the impeached Speaker.