President Muhammadu Buhari is currently holding a meeting with the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Edo State, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu.
Ize-Iyamu was brought to the Presidential Villa, Abuja, by Governor of Yobe State and Chairman, APC Caretaker/Extra-Ordinary National Convention Planning Committee (CEONCPC), Mai Mala Buni.
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The Chairman of the APC National Campaign Council for Edo State Governorship Election and Governor of Kano State, Dr Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, and Chairman of the Progressive Governors Forum (PGF), Abubakar Bagudu are part of the lean delegation that is believed to have come to present the governorship candidate.
The party is expected to flag off the campaign on Saturday in Benin.
The crisis rocking Edo State House of Assembly took a new dimension, on Thursday, with the inauguration of the 14 embattled lawmakers and emergence of a new speaker.
This is just as the roof of the legislative complex was removed allegedly as part of renovation work on Thursday.
The latest crisis in the parliament was ignited by the removal of the deputy speaker of the assembly, Yekini Idiaye, on Wednesday, barely 48 hours after he threw his weight behind the candidature of Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu, candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for the September 18 governorship election in the state.
Our correspondent reports that the 14 members-elect, whose seats have been declared vacant, were sworn in at an undisclosed location in Benin, 13 months after 10 of their colleagues were inaugurated.
The newly sworn in lawmakers along with three others impeached the speaker of the assembly, Mr. Frank Okiye, and announced Victor Edoror as his replacement.
Daily Trust reports that the 24-member assembly has been enmeshed in crisis since its inauguration in June last year.
At the inception of the parliament, 10 lawmakers loyal to Governor Godwin Obaseki were inaugurated while 14 were not until Thursday.
A source told our correspondent that a former deputy clerk of the assembly, Tom Efezokhae, administered the oath office on the 14 lawmakers.
When contacted for reaction, the Clerk of Edo Assembly, Mr. Yaya Omogbai said, “I don’t talk to press, meet my PRO please.”
The ‘impeached’ speaker of the assembly, Okiye, said the conduct of the 14 lawmakers amounted to treasonable felony, adding that what they did in a private residence could not stand.
“We are 10 members of the Edo Assembly. Litigation on the fate of the 14 members-elect is still in court. I’m the speaker of Edo House of Assembly,” he said during a Channels Television programme, ‘Politics Today’.
In a phone interview, Edoro said he has been elected by his colleagues as the speaker, saying whatever Okiye-led assembly did in the past was illegal.
