Posted by By Simon Ebegbulem on
THERE are indications that members of the Edo state House of Assembly may soon launch moves to oust Governor Lucky Igbinedion, after the leadership of the House accused government of pitching it against some members by sponsoring three members of the House to a trip to London, without the consent and approval of the leadership of the House.
THERE are indications that members of the Edo state House of Assembly may soon launch moves to oust Governor Lucky Igbinedion, after the leadership of the House accused government of pitching it against some members by sponsoring three members of the House to a trip to London, without the consent and approval of the leadership of the House.
Vanguard reliably gathered that that the governor who was not comfortable with the recent romance between the Speaker of the House, Mr David Iyoha and the chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party Board of Trustees, Chief Tony Anenih, had requested the House to approve the state Annual Audit report before proceeding on Christmas break but the Speaker refused and insisted on setting up a committee headed by Mr. Peter Ekhator to look into the report critically since it was something that had to do with the finances of the state.
Consequently, the legislators were denied their Christmas and New Year gift by the executive.
It was also gathered that the governor was not happy at the way the Speaker handled the issue of monthly deductions from members' salaries which is used in running the party in the state. A top member of the Assembly told Vanguard that "before the state congresses, we took the deductions to the Chief Tony Omoaghe-led faction of the party. But after the parallel congresses, members loyal to Chief Anenih protested to the Speaker that they could no longer allow their monthly deductions to go to the Chief Omoaghe-led faction, that they should be allowed to decide which of the factions to send their monthly deductions to.
"Finally, Chief Anenih's loyalists won the day when the Speaker decided that in view of circumstances members are now allowed to send their monthly deductions to any of the factions that they choose. The governor confronted the Speaker and accused him of having sold out."
And in an attempt to spite the leadership of the House because of their actions, Vanguard further learnt that the governor approved the London trip for three of his core loyalists Mrs Elizabeth Ighodaro, Chris Omogbai and Zakawanu Garuba without informing the Speaker and other leaders of the House. The trip Vanguard gathered cost the executive arm N6 million.
Piqued by this, the Speaker decided to fight back by mobilising his men to start impeachment moves against the governor if he does not stop the alleged onslaught against the House leadership. The trio who embarked on the foreign trip have been summoned to appear before the Ethics and Privileges Committee of the House to explain why they travelled abroad without the consent of the House leadership.
When contacted, the Speaker declined to comment but a source close to the leadership of the House told Vanguard that "when did Mrs Ighodaro start doing memo requesting the governor's approval for fund to enable them embark on the trip. The question is when did it become a constitutional right for members to go straight to the executive to approve foreign trip without the knowlegde of the House leadership?.
"This is currently creating heat in the House. Not only between the Speaker and the governor but amongst members because in of all these the Speaker has threatened to resign his position if the excutive continues to behave this way. And the truth is that if he goes ahead with his threats, the House will elect somebody else who will come and impeach the governor. That is the fear and if the matter is allowed to deepen further it will definitely happen that way."