The All Progressives Congress in Edo State has alleged that the police paved the way for the four suspended lawmakers to gain access into the Edo State House of Assembly to disrupt proceedings.
Chairman of the APC in the state, Anslem Ojezua, said the police acted on the prodding of the Peoples Democratic Party in the state.
Ojezua told reporters in Abuja on Thursday that the crisis in the Edo State House of Assembly was orchestrated by forces outside the state, who allegedly found accomplices in a handful of people within the state.
He said the suspended members of the House, who gained entrance into the chamber at an ‘ungodly hour’ were responsible for the chaos which followed.
The APC chairman said, “From what we later got to find out, we were told that the police facilitated the entrance of those people, who have been suspended by the leadership of the House into the chambers. And they purported to have removed the Speaker and the Majority Leader, who have 15 members. That was absurd.”
He explained that the PDP showed its level of complicity in the crisis when it rushed to the media to issue a statement congratulating Festus Edea for the act.
He urged President Goodluck Jonathan to call the police and the PDP in Edo State to order because it was worrisome that suspended members of the House would still move around with armed police escorts.
Meanwhile, the Edo State House of Assembly on Thursday accused four lawmakers who were suspended by the House on Monday and five other PDP lawmakers of attempting to hold an unlawful session in the chamber with a stolen mace.
Chairman, House Committee on Youths, Sports and Information, Adjoto Kabiru, said this while briefing newsmen in Benin.
Kabiru said that the House was shocked when it discovered that the stolen mace, which had been declared missing in 2010 during a free-for-all that led to the impeachment of the former Speaker, Zakawanu Garuba, had been in the possession of the suspended members and the PDP lawmakers .
He explained that the House had an original mace and a duplicate as that time. “The duplicate mace of the Edo State House of Assembly, that time was stolen from where the Sergeant at Arms kept it.
“Although we had reported to the police about the missing mace in 2010, we were surprised to see that the mace had been in the possession of suspended PDP lawmakers. We have already informed the police and we are sure that the police will get to the root of the matter,” he said.
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