Hon Yekini Idiaye
The deputy dpeaker of the Edo State House of Assembly, Mr. Yekini Idiaye (Akoko Edo 1) was on Wednesday removed from his position over alleged gross misconduct during a plenary session of the lawmakers at Edo State Government House, Benin, just as Speaker Frank Okiye has raised an alarm of a plot by Imo State Governor Hope Uzodinma and other top leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Edo State to import a fake mace to take over the complex.
In place of Idiaye is the erstwhile Majority Leader, Mr. Roland Asoro
(Orhionmwon 11) who was elevated to the number two position following a motion by Mr. Emmanuel Okoduwa
(Esan North East 11) and seconded by Ephraim Aluebhosele (Igueben).
The impeachment was sequel to a motion moved by Henry Okhuarobo
(Ikpoba Okha) and seconded by Marcus Onobun (Esan West).
Okhuarobo said; “Mr.speaker with me is a notice of impeachment of the deputy speaker on the ground of gross misconduct and divulging of official secrets.”
The seven lawmakers following deliberations on the petition unanimously adopted the motion through a voice -vote for the impeachment of Idiaye.
Okhuarobo, the former chief whip was elevated to the position of the leader of the house, while Onobun, the deputy leader was made the chief whip and Sunny Ojiezele (Esan South East) stepped in as the new deputy leader.
Aluebhosele was elevated to the position of the deputy whip while Okoduwa was made a co-opted member of the principal officers council.
Idiaye who recently reiterated his support for the Edo State All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate in the September 19 election was impeached on Wednesday .
Speaking on his mobile phone from Auchi where he is currently on the campaign stump for the APC governorship candidate, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu Idiaye however insisted that his removal was illegal.
He said that his colleagues ganged up against him because of his refusal to defect to the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) with the seven members who plotted the sack.
According to him, the action of the seven members is illegal as they didn’t form a quorum, noting that he still remained the deputy speaker.
Idiaye said: ” I am a member of the APC and will always be. Under the APC, I became a commissioner and later a member of the House of Assembly. When the issue of whether to
defect to the PDP or not came up, I consulted with my people who insisted that I remain in APC. Right now I am in Auchi campaigning for the APC governorship candidate, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu.”In a statement in Benin Wednesday, Okiye alleged that the Imo governor and the APC who are working with the impeached deputy speaker, Mr. Yekini Idiaye (Akoko Edo 11) aimed to assemble at a secret location in the state to illegally and violently take over control of the Assembly.
Okiye called on President Muhammadu Bihari to urgently call Uzodinma and other working with him to execute this illegal plan to desist and allow the laws of the state to guide them.
The speaker who recently defected from the APC to the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) insisted that the state polity is already heated the high political tension from the electioneering campaigns, adding that the plot is akin to lighting a match in an already tensed political environment which conflagration is capable of causing crisis in the state.
He said: “We call on Edo people whose mandate and interests the state state’s legislature holds and projects, to raise 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 tenets and values, pro democracy groups to denounce this planned illegality that seeks to distract a duly constituted authority.”
Okiye emphasized he and his six colleagues out of the 24 member House who sat are always committed to the perfection of the democratic rights of Edo people as the legislature remained a sacred institution to the democratization process.
Reacting, the Commissioner for Special Projects of Imo State, Mr. Simon Ebegbulem said that the allegations against Uzodinma are baseless.
Ebgbulem said that the Imo State governor was interested in working with other APC governors and stakeholders to reclaim Edo State which was controlled by APC before Governor Obaseki d
made a move to the PDP.
“The Speaker and his principal (Governor Godwin Obaseki) are already jittery because of the imminent defeat in the coming election. You can see that his aides are resigning everyday including his Deputy Speaker. Now he is left with five lawmakers. That shows that he is in not in charge.”
