Edo State Governor, Adams Oshiomhole has dismissed insinuations and reports that he had a hand in the impeachment of former speaker of the House of Assembly, Victor Edoror.
Oshiomhole said this when the new speaker, Elizabeth Ativie, led other principal officers and members of the assembly to his office yesterday. “It is important to use this occasion with your permission, Madam Speaker, to say that there have been too many insinuations in town and around the country. I have read uninformed comments such as Edoror impeachment because he is not supporting Oshiomhole’s project in my determination to ‘impose a candidate on the party.’ Some have gone to the ridiculous extent of suggesting that your emergence as a speaker is a prelude to impeaching the Deputy Governor, Dr. Pius Egberamwen Odubu. There are all kinds of uninformed, sickening speculations which not only are irritating, they are even more irritating when you realise that people who are very responsible, in the absence of any other source of information, appear to believe what might be described as sources from bush radio. I want to, therefore, with your permission, Madam Speaker, use this opportunity to assure the people of Edo State and indeed the Nigerian people, that, I am a democrat. The assumption that the Edo State House of Assembly consults and obtains permission from the executive before it acts is not only foolish, it is not informed by a very rudimentary knowledge of how parliament operates, particularly in a presidential system…
Earlier, Ativie apologised to Oshiomhole for not taking him along in the leadership change. “It will interest your Excellency to know that on May 3, the House effected a change in its leadership, and this led to my emergence as speaker. At this juncture, I want to publicly, on behalf of our members, all the 24 members of the Assembly apologise to your excellency that we did it without letting you know because we knew that if for any reason it leaked, you will not allow us to do it. That was why we took our notes among ourselves that we will not let you know…”
…Louis Odion demands apology in 24hrs
Former Edo State Commissioner for Information, Louis Odion has demanded an apology from Edo State Governor, Adams Oshiomhole after his Chief Press Secretary, Peter Okhiria wrote an article to malign him,
Writing on his Facebook page yesterday, Odion demanded that Okhiria retract the article within 24 hours or he would take steps to remedy the situation. “God knows I have tried to restrain myself as far as the unfolding Edo conundrum is concerned. I can overlook the bleating of these political he-goats, but certainly not an “iconoclastic” attempt to cast aspersion on my professional competence and integrity by kindergarten spin doctors seeking traction. I want to believe Peter fired this salvo as usual without reference to their boss. It is for this reason I am using this medium to demand Governor Oshiomhole to direct Peter to retract his falsehood on me and apologise. Otherwise, he bears liability as I would be left with no option than to take steps to defend my hard-earned professional honour. Comrade Governor, I expect that is done within 24 hours…”