Okiye, in a letter written to the AGF, and dated August 06, 2020, said he was certain that the AGF “did not have all the facts relevant to the matter, before it issued the advisory and directive to the Police to intervene in the affairs of the Edo State House of Assembly.”

According to the Speaker, “My attention has just been drawn to a letter dated 5th of August, 2020, issued under your hand and addressed to the Inspector General of Police, wherein you issued an advisory and directed the Police to inter alia: provide adequate security for the purpose of the inauguration of the concerned members and the subsequent sittings of the Edo State House of Assembly.”

Okiye, who shared details of pending and concluded litigation having a bearing on the Assembly, said, the Federal High Court sitting in Port Harcourt, with Suit no. FHC/PH/CS/159/19, gave a final judgment on September 19, 2019 and held that the Assembly was properly inaugurated on June 17, 2019 and that the House is sitting and carrying out its functions, adding: “The Court also restrained the Governor of Edo State or any other person from issuing the second proclamation to restart the House.”

He continued: “Suit no. FHC/AB/CS/1582/2019: Rt. Hon. Victor Sabor Edoror and 13 others against Hon. Frank Okiye (The Speaker, Edo State House of Assembly and Anor. This is a suit filed by the then 14 member-elect of the Edo State House of Assembly, who refused to take oath of office and consequent upon which their seats were declared vacant by the Speaker of the Edo State House of Assembly. They filed this suit to challenge the declaration of their seats vacant by the Edo State House of Assembly. The case is still pending in Federal High Court No. 4, Abuja.

“Suit No. B/81/OS/2019: Rt. Hon. Victor Edoror and 2 Ors vs Hon. Frank Okiye and Ors. In this suit, the claimants which were members-elect of the Edo State House of Assembly, who refused to take oath of office, challenged the proclamation made by the Governor of Edo State to hold the first sitting of the House on the 17th day of June, 2019 and election of officers of the House. This suit is currently pending before Hon. Justice S. A. Omonua.”

“From the foregoing, it is clear that all matters relating to the functioning or otherwise of the Edo State House of Assembly and/or its members are sub judice”, the Speaker added.

Okiye said: “It would therefore be clear that the course of action which you have urged upon the Inspector General of Police would in fact amount to a grievous assault on the rule of law, separation of powers and respect for judicial authority.

“As expected, the attempt to give effect to your said directive the very next day, 6th August, 2020, gave rise to serious breakdown of law and order in Benin City and almost degenerated into violence within the city as those persons who had surreptitiously obtained your endorsement, attempted to use the powers of the Police to takeover the premises of the Edo State House of Assembly in defiance of clear orders of competent courts to the contrary.”

He noted: “I am certain that if your office had had all these facts, it would certainly not have issued the directive under reference. I am also apprehensive about the political interpretations which could be given to the contents of the directive and the speed with which those concerned sought to execute their agenda.

“In consequence of the foregoing, I would urge that your office take another look at the entirety of the matter in order to ensure that due process and respect for the legal institutions is not sacrificed at the altar of the selfish and ruthless egos and ambitions of those who wish to keep our state perpetually under their control.

“Given the fact that we are six (6) weeks away from a gubernatorial election scheduled for September 19th 2020, we would plead with you not to allow the enormous prestige of your office be used by unscrupulous persons to turn our state into a theatre of war.”

“Whilst offering you the assurance of our regards, we hope that urgent steps will be taken to ensure that the situation does not degenerate further,” he added.

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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.

According to him, “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.

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Fielding questions from newsmen on the crisis rocking the state legislature, the speaker said the planned take over of the state Assembly by the Senate is capable of destabilizing Edo State, adding that the Red Chamber should act as agents of peace and not merchants of crisis.

“The truth is that the Edo State Assembly and my office as the speaker are not the real targets of this crisis. The plot is actually aimed at Governor Obaseki and the endpoint is to stop him from getting a return ticket as governor next year.

“Comrade Oshiomhole is actually after Obaseki, the state Assembly was only a smokescreen to his plans. The idea now is to take over the house, destabilize the state and possibly impeach the governor. The Edo Peoples Movement that originated this crisis has boasted that they will ensure that the governor does not come back for the second tenure.”

Noting that the threat of takeover from the National Assembly was part of the grand plot of Oshiomhole, who was the immediate past governor of the state, Okiye said: “I have said it before on several occasions that we know who is beating the drum for them in the National Assembly. They have found themselves in the position of stooge to make it look like they cannot think outside the box, it’s unfortunate.”

Urging his aggrieved colleagues to come over to the Assembly and regularized their documents as lawmaker elect, the Assembly Speaker said plenary activities is in full swing as lawmakers are considering bills, screening commissioners and aides and other legislative activities.

“We have been sitting as a parliament. I just drove out office after the plenary session. Lawmakers are going about their committee work. We just invited Commissioner for Works to appear before the House over a matter of public importance.

“The door is open for the remaining lawmaker-elect, they should come to Assembly, complete and regularize their documentation and they will be sworn in.

“The constitution says when the House is unable to sit, that means when it cannot perform the function it was supposed to perform. And this notification was supposed to be given or declared by the governor who will say that there is no one to clear my commissioners, oversee my legislative requests and so on. That was what the constitution contemplated, not the National Assembly sitting over a state Assembly as if we are a colony under them.

Speaking on the next line of action, he said, “We are in court; we have sued them and got two separate injunctions and we are going to cite all the cases in court on the pages of newspapers. The other twelve member-elect have also sued and challenged the legitimacy of my speakership.

“So, which means all the parties in this issue have cases in court already. We have a restraining order against the National Assembly, against the security agencies, against the party and their agents. So, why is the National Assembly trying to usurp the function of the court?” he said.

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Speaker of the Edo House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Frank Okiye, said this in a statement he issued in Benin City on Wednesday, following reports of an order by the House of Representatives to seal up the Edo House of Assembly.

Okiye said, “It has come to our knowledge that the Ad hoc Committee of the House of Representatives investigating issues surrounding the inauguration of the Edo State House of Assembly has recommended that the Inspector General of Police and Department of State Services should seal up the Edo Assembly.”

The Speaker noted that “Considering what we (have) come to know in the course of this process, the recommendation of the ad hoc committee does not come to us as a surprise.”

Rt. Hon Okiye maintained that “It was clear that the ad hoc committee was up to no good. Their report was always going to be biased.

“Moreover, we want to draw the attention of the general public and the police to a subsisting court order restraining the Police, headed by the Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Adamu; the National Working Committee of the All Progressives Congress, the Department of State Services and their agents, from interfering in the affairs of the Assembly, as the House has been going about its activities peacefully and without rancour.”

He advised that “The National Assembly must take note that they are expected to act as agents of peace and not merchants of crisis. Edo State has always been peaceful and any attempt for them to carry out this order will certainly disrupt the peace that is currently being enjoyed in the state.”

The Speaker stressed that, “In a time like this in which the nation is being engulfed in one form of violence or the other, it is unfortunate that the House of Representatives is seen to be promoting violence and exacerbating the tension in the country.”

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