Edo State House of Assembly Speaker, Rt. Hon. Frank Okiye, has raised the alarm over an alleged plot by the Governor of Imo State, Hope Uzodinma and stakeholders in the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Edo State, to import a fake mace to violently take over the Edo State House of Assembly.
Okiye, who spoke after plenary on Wednesday, in Benin City, said the plot is to be executed in cahoots with the impeached Deputy Speaker, Hon. Yekini Idiaye.
“The dubious plan by the Governor of Imo State, Sen. Hope Uzodinma and stakeholders of the APC in Edo State to import a fake mace to take over the Edo State House of Assembly working in cahoots with the Deputy Speaker, who recently declared support for the candidate of the APC to congregate in a secret location to illegally and violently take over control of the Assembly has been brought to our notice.”
Warning of the grave consequences such a move portends for democracy in Nigeria, Okiye called on the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, President Muhammadu Buhari, and the Presidency to urgently call the Imo State Governor and others working with him to execute this illegal plan to desist from their plans and allow the laws of the state to guide them.
“The state’s polity is already heated by the high political tension from the electioneering campaigns. Their planned action is akin to lighting a match in an already tensed political environment, which conflagration is capable of causing crisis in the state, and of a scale beyond our imagination.”
He said, “We call on Edo people whose mandate and interests the state’s legislature holds and protects, to rise against this planned attack and plot to subvert their will and subjugate them using external forces.
“We urge lovers of democracy across the world, institutions that uphold democratic tenets and values, pro-democracy groups, to denounce this planned illegality that seeks to distract a duly constituted authority.”
“We recognise the constitutional right of the three members of the House of Assembly to support the candidate of their choice, but that should not distract them from coming to work to carry out the job they were elected for.
“We are, as always, committed to the protection of the democratic rights of our people as the legislature remains a sacred institution in the democratisation process,” he added.
As at press time Uzodinma and APC could no be reached for comments.
