Edo:Executive-legislature clash looms as Okpebholo resumes office

There are concerns that the recent victory of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the off-cycle governorship election in Edo State might resurrect past grievances related to the exclusion of 14 lawmakers-elect from the party for four years in 2019. There is apprehension that a renewed effort to address this issue in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)-dominated House of Assembly could lead to another executive-legislature face-off.

Oshiomhole. Photo/facebook/officialapcng

reports.

Former Edo State governor, Adams Oshiomhole, who currently represents Edo North Senatorial district at the senate, raised the political ante recently when he reminded the nation how his erstwhile political godson and outgoing governor, Godwin Obaseki refused to inaugurate 14 out of 24 members of the state House of Assembly in 2019.

At the plenary of the senate, Oshiomhole appealed to his colleagues to revisit the matter, which he said was unjust. The affected Assembly members were from All Progressives Congress (APC) namely, Gani Audi (Etsako West), Chris Okaeben (Oredo West), Sunday Aghedo (Ovia Southwest), Victor Edoror (Esan Central) and Washington Osa Osifo (Uhunwmonde).

Others are, Michael Ohio-Ezomo (Owan West), Crosby Eribo (Egor), Seid Oshiomhole (Etsako North), Vincent Osa Uwadiae (Ovia North East II), Ahmed Waziri Oshomah (Etsako Central), Kingsley Ugabi (Etsako East) and Ugiagbe Dumez (Ovia North East).

Oshiomhole’s appeal not only sought to address past grievances but also hinted at the political dynamics expected as Monday Okpebholo of the APC prepares to take office as Obaseki’s successor on November 12.

Although there were controversies about why the 14 members-elect did not attend the inauguration with some attributing it to their loyalty to Oshiomhole, who had fallen out with Obaseki before the election, others said they were intentionally schemed out from attending the event scheduled for 10 p.m.

Ahead of the inauguration of the State House of Assembly, information had spread that the 14 APC lawmakers-elect that owed their allegiance to Oshiomhole and more than 10 PDP members sympathetic to the incumbent governor had perfected plans to impeach Obaseki.

Both PDP and APC engaged in a battle of wits and various political intrigues, which analysts said, explained why the governor fixed the inauguration for 10 p.m. Sensing danger ahead, APC members did not attend while Obaseki had his way by inaugurating only 10 PDP members.

Although the election that threw up those Assembly members had long elapsed, there is a new Assembly by virtue of the 2023 general elections comprising 15 members of the PDP, eight members of the APC and one from the Labour Party (LP). The composition of the current Assembly places the PDP in the majority and the APC in the minority.

Recently, Edo State voters went to the polls and elected Senator Monday Okpebholo of the APC as the next governor of the state. As the governor-elect prepares to be sworn into office on November 13, 2024, feelers in the state suggest that a repeat of the division in the House of Assembly based on loyalty to the governor may rear its ugly head again.

Oshiomhole’s recent outbursts have brought credence to the conversations in the state that Okpebholo’s governorship will not only turn out as a third term for him, (Oshiomhole) but also turn the heat on lawmakers loyal to the outgoing Governor Obaseki.

It is being perceived that he (Oshiomhole) in the guise of mustering support for Okpebhole would deploy all weapons in his arsenal to whittle down the powers of the PDP-dominated Assembly leadership and in the long run, dictate the rhythm for the coming administration.

Reacting to The Guardian’s enquiry about the likelihood of vengeance from Oshiomhole and the APC for the denial of tenure for the 14 absentee members-elect of the APC, a close associate of Governor Obaseki, Chris Nehikhare, urged him (Oshiomhole) to concern himself with making laws for the people and not meddle in Edo State House of Assembly affairs.

He argued that since Edo State has moved forward under the watch of Obaseki, the Senator should not try to return old and forgotten animosities. Nehikhare, who is also a staunch PDP stakeholder and the state Commissioner for Communication and Orientation, said that the impasse of the 14 members-elect is now history, adding that Edo State House of Assembly is properly constituted and evenly represented across at least, three political parties of APC, PDP and LP.

While blaming Oshiomhole for the crisis that robbed the 14 APC members of legislative involvement in 2019, Nehikhare stated, “Obaseki is not a member of the House of Assembly. And we understand that the legislature has its independence. The lawmakers, after painstakingly waiting for the 14 APC members to come for the inauguration, decided to declare their seats vacant.

“They didn’t move to declare the seats vacant in one or two days. It took several months, after many entreaties by the then Speaker of the House, Francis Okiye. They still refused to show up for the inauguration, because Oshiomhole assured them that they should not do it. We weren’t happy that some constituencies were not represented, which I think things could have been done better, but reportedly offering N10 million to each of those recalcitrant members not to go for the inauguration was unnecessary and a shame to their leader,” he added.

Reacting to Obaseki’s refusal to swear them into office after winning elections to represent their various constituencies, Osifo said they did everything humanly possible to be inaugurated adding that their efforts led to the National Assembly’s intervention. For Aghedo Sunday, member-elect for (Ovia South West), Obaseki goofed when he locked us out for the inauguration.

“What he did by inaugurating some members at midnight was wrong. I know by now that he must have regretted his actions,” he said. He also faulted the transmission of the letter of inauguration through newspaper publications or letters addressed to some of the members.

“We only heard at about 10 p.m that night that some members had been inaugurated, while we were left out. As I speak, the matter got to the court and nothing happened because Obaseki had interest. I know Obaseki must be regretting it now,” Aghedo said.

The former Speaker of the House of Assembly at the time, Francis Okiye, however, said the non-inauguration of the 14 members had taken a toll on the activities of the House then.

“I am not to view it from financial perspectives in terms of benefits but what they would have been able to influence for their respective constituencies. Unfortunately, because legislature power is in the numbers, the fewer, the less powerful. So, Obaseki played in the House because we were few and when he saw my dissatisfaction with the way he was manipulating the House, he instructed the members who were few to remove me. From then he and his wife took over the House and left the members’ constituencies with no single presence. For instance, in my constituency, the four years were zero. If we were more as in the 24, there would perhaps be more pressure on the governor to remember the state constituencies exist and have preferences.

“In my constituency, there was no single project in any of the sectors whether as a Speaker or even as a member despite various projects that were dear to my heart that my people placed in the budget for 4 years,” Okiye said.

A lawyer, Eugene Eke also faulted Oshiomhole’s assertion that Governor Obaseki refused to swear in 14 lawmakers into the Edo State House of Assembly, noting that Obaseki couldn’t have forced the APC members to avail themselves for inauguration against their wish. Eke, a chieftain of the PDP in Ovia North East, described Oshiomhole’s claims as laughable and misleading.

“The governor, having issued a first proclamation letter as provided by law, therefore became functus officio and could not have gone ahead to issue a second such letter to the Clerk of the Assembly just to satisfy the desires of some self-seeking persons as doing that would have been tantamount to breaching the provisions of the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria as amended.

“The seat of the now infamous 14 lawmakers became vacant, having failed to attend the sitting of the House for a continuous period of 180 days as prescribed by Law. The Federal High Court, therefore, held rightly when in its judgment held amongst other things that the seats of the said lawmakers were validly declared vacant and further restrained the governor from issuing a second proclamation letter.” Eke said.

Also disenchanted with the alleged scheming out of the APC 14 members-elect at the midnight inauguration, an APC chieftain Odion Kessington Oriaifo said that it is outrageous, and a slap on democracy. Oriafo backed the appeal recently made by Oshiomhole to the National Assembly (NASS) that the issue be revisited by NASS.

“The anomalies carried out by the outgoing governor Godwin Obaseki, reached full cycle. In advanced climes and democratic societies, issues like that are a utopia. No one will ever imagine that such can happen, but here, some so-called political leaders threw all caution to the wind and assumed they were some kind of gods. No wonder the National Assembly that tried to intervene to solve the problem at that time but failed in their attempt described the action of Obaseki’s government in that scenario, as executive rascality,” Oriaifo said.

Another APC chieftain in Edo Central, Robert Okoinemen, added that the Edo State governor-elect, Senator Monday Okpebholo, has come to sanitise the polity and every other sector of Edo state of the many ills and anomalies committed by the outgoing governor of Edo state.

“Have they forgotten so soon, the midnight inauguration of Edo state House of Assembly members where 14 members-elect were schemed out of the so-called inauguration, and 14 Constituencies not represented in government for four years? Have the PDP forgotten how some local government chairmen and councillors were summarily removed from office just because they are not PDP members?”

The way it is, there are fears that the APC may not have forgiven the PDP for the 14 lawmakers schemed out five years ago. Now that a new APC henchman is in power, the real politicking that would ensure that the party takes its pound of flesh on the PDP may begin with the House of Assembly, despite their numerical strength.