EDO STATE HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY FRACAS: OSHIOMOLE, THE ONLY BENEFICIARY! Edo state has since the beginning of this democratic dispensation in 1999 been a relatively peaceful state with a fairly educated voter population. The people have by and large always moved in the same direction as there is usually a convergence of superior political reasoning which flows from the political elite through the all powerful palace of the highly revered Oba of the great Bini kingdom to the ironically sophisticated so called “ordinary man” on the street. However, events in the Edo State house of assembly in the recent past is not only threatening the peace of the state but also threatening the future of democracy in the state. The legislative arm of government by all ramifications is almost now merely a small department of the Governor’s office! The unfortunate truth about this situation is that it is not as a result of any love lost between the honorable members of the house of assembly as I remember the good old days when they all used to fellowship in the house of the amiable, unassuming speaker Mr. Uyi Igbe! It was common sight then to see Uyi pass the bottle to Patrick Osayimwen to fill his glass and Patrick will thereafter pass it on to Jude Idehen or Phillip Shuaibu or any of the other honorables around while everybody awaited the special packages arranged by Dan and Co. But this camaraderie has gone with the wind purely because of the almost demonic and insane machinations of one man: ADAMS ALIU OSHIOMOLE! Adams Oshiomole appeared in Edo State as the long awaited messiah and immediately swung into action with massive infrastructural and developmental programs which were applauded by both his friends and foes. Whether this applause was too loud for his ears and as such drove him insane or the gods just wanted to destroy him and as such first made him mad, I do not know. What is certain however is that something obviously went wrong with the man as even his closest associates will tell you that they no longer understand the apostle of “no more god fatherism” as the Oshio Baba now wants to determine even who becomes Ward Chairmen! As a result of his high handedness and undemocratic tendencies and practices, certain powerful members of the APC moved to PDP and since then, movement to the erstwhile docile PDP in Edo State has been in droves. Since then Oshiomole has not known peace and has decided that Edo people will not know peace also. Four members of the Edo state house of assembly decamped from the APC to the PDP. They were immediately suspended and the house adjourned sine-die on the instructions of the governor. Unfortunately for the governor, the suspended members and other PDP members held their own session and impeached the de-facto speaker. Oshiomole’s legislators were therefore compelled to resume sitting and since then both factions have been sitting separately. Several well meaning Nigerians have called on Governor Oshiomole to intervene on the matter and restore the house to status quo ante but the governor has blatantly refused to do this; claiming that he will not interfere in legislative matters! But the fact is that Oshiomole being a very smart man who has played labour politics for several decades has seen the hand writing on the wall that for every day the Edo State house of assembly has a peaceful sitting more members will decamp from the APC to the PDP! Truth be told, the only member of the Edo State house of assembly that Oshiomole can actually count on is Phillip Shuaibu, (I do not know of N50m oh!). So it pays Oshiomole to ensure that the Edo State House of Assembly imbroglio continues until somebody from Abuja can assure him that even when PDP takes over Edo State House of Assembly, they will allow Oshiomole finish his tenure as governor without impeaching him! Finally I believe that Oshiomole should be allowed to finish his tenure as governor as long as he undertakes to focus on improving and developing the state and abandon his almost demonic plans of destroying the state politically with his uncanny political machinations.
Posted on: Tue, 08 Jul 2014 14:30:07 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015