Edo Assembly crisis is shameful, needless Scandalum Magnatum —Hon.Obahiagbon
To say one is worried is to put it mildly. The circumambient ambience that has necessitated the threatened taking over of the legislative functions of the Edo State House of Assembly by the National Assembly is not only maniacally bewildering, it’s also opprobriously embarrassing. There was certainly no need to have resorted to politics of Machiavellianism, philistinism and apacheism in a glaringly unconstitutional inauguration of a microscopic minority and thus estranging the majority members-elect of the Edo State House of Assembly from the process and expect it won’t provoke a situation of political and sociological topsy-turvydom. The proclamation letter and all events thereafter fell short of both legal and conventional requirements. The operative sections of the constitution I respectfully submit are both Sections 91 and 96, and what exists just now against the backdrop of a community reading of those constitutional provisions is an illegal contraption. Section 91 of the constitution is to the effect that a House of Assembly should be composed of not less than 24 members and not more than 40 members whilst section 96 of the constitution is very diaphanous as to the fact that a quorum can only be located within the context of one third of all members of the House of Assembly. So you can see that the so called inauguration of June 17th within the context of the hereinbefore recited provisions of the constitution only succeeded in constituting at best an alawada parliament in Edo State and certainly not a validly inaugurated parliament.
Where do you think the national chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Comrade Adams Oshiomhole is in all these? You are his person, where is your sympathy too?
I have been really shocked when I hear and read all manner of commentators reducing the House of Assembly roforofo in Edo State to a so-called surrogate battle between the APC National Chairman and Mr. Governor. That view is not only jaundiced and politically astigmatic but it’s also a reductio ad absurdum and patently ad hominem. The national chairman of APC is only concerned with the integrity of the process both in Edo and Bauchi states and can’t be bothered who the process throws up as Mr. Speaker. He could not give a damn from day one who became the Speaker of the Edo State House of Assembly until Hon. Victor Edoror was foisted upon him willy-nilly by a deprecable concatenation of events that still gives me mental pabulum and heebie-jeebies.
Do you think traditional rulers should be involved in getting a solution to this crisis?
I have nothing against that if it is the open sesame out of the self-inflicted political phantasmagoria but let me quickly mention that Comrade Adams Oshiomhole is at peace with everybody and still perceive of everyone as members of his political family, the needless provocations notwithstanding.
In the event that the National Assembly carries out its threat to take over the Edo Assembly, what do you think will be the reaction of the people of Edo State to such a step?
With the exception of members of the political class whose views are blinkered by the sheer weight of their political piazza, a vast majority of Edo State citizens are fully aware that the June 17th fiasco was a macabre dance which took place at an ungodly, nocturnal and un-parliamentary hour (at least the Commissioner of Police corroborates this position in his testimony before the Senate investigative committee) where some members-elect dressed like they were in a disco hall disc jockeying, and this vast majority of Edo State citizens are therefore overwhelmingly desirous of a complete reversal of the June 17th putrescence. It is my sincere desire however that the Edo State government does the needful as requested of it by the National Assembly and stave off the taking over of the legislative functions of the Edo State House of Assembly by the National Assembly for that will attract us national obloquy.
Is it not a shame that this crisis is happening in a state where all the 24 members belong to one party?
It is not only a shame but also a depreciable scandalum magnatum at that. It’s very funereal and chilling that we have been deprived of the ecstasy flowing from our legislative suzerainty by needless political brinksmanship and impetuous excrescences.
What do you think is the way out of this crisis?
The way out of the crisis is a return to the path of constitutionality and legality by issuing a fresh proclamation. Let’s forget about splitting legal hairs for we all knew the naked and unadorned facts of what truly happened on that day in question. This should be a time for sober reflection and a call to fore the camaraderie of our political brotherhoods. It is a time for those in Osadebe Avenue (government house) to recall with fond memories the love Comrade Adams Oshiomhole has extended to all of them. It’s time for my senior brother, Mr. Governor to recall that himself and Comrade Adams Oshiomhole once enjoyed a chummy relationship which was the envy of some of his new friends now and that these new friends didn’t give him a chance but for the unalloyed and intrepid support of the Comrade National Chairman of APC. It’s time we all go back to our national leader and shame political opportunists and contractors. Is it too late? I don’t think it is.
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