Since the inauguration of the 7th Edo State House of Assembly, there has been crisis occasioned by divided loyalty by the 24 members of the state assembly who all belong to the All Progressives Congress, APC. Apparently, suspicion is that their quarrel is over the leadership of the House.

Nine members who submitted themselves for inauguration are the only legal members of the state House of Assembly as opposed to the 24 elected to be in the House. This remains the crux of the matter. The nine are alleged to be loyal to the governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki while the rest who have refused to submit themselves for inauguration are alleged to be loyal to former Comrade Governor, Adams Oshiomhole.

Also, commentaries have continued to heighten the political conversation in Edo State ahead of the 2020 gubernatorial poll, for which supporters of Governor Obaseki believe he must be returned unhindered, while those now supporting Comrade Oshiomhole want Governor Obaseki Ambodelized. This appears the latent crux of the matter from my considered opinion.

At the height of the crisis, the House of Representatives acting upon a motion by Prof Julius Ihonvbere representing Owan Federal Constituency set up an ad-hoc committee led by Hon Abdulrazak with a view to helping the House take an informed position. Edo people expected the Reps to come up with recommendations that would help resolve what appears to be a crisis. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen. Instead, the Reps poured some kerosene to the matter. They asked Governor Godwin Obaseki to issue a fresh proclamation of the Seventh Assembly within one week, which must be published by the media. They even threatened to take over the State Assembly if their decree was not obeyed, citing certain sections of the constitution as back up for their actions.

The Senators also swung into action with a committee, all in a bid to address the Edo Assembly crisis. The committee last week came up with their findings and, like their counterparts in the House of Representatives issued yet one-week ultimatum to Governor Obaseki to issue fresh proclamation for the 7th Edo Assembly. The Senate also anchored its actions on certain provisions of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. From their actions, I believe that they believe in the rule of law. Any man who believes in the rule of law must also be willing to submit to a court of competent jurisdiction for the adjudication of any matter in conflict or crisis a la Edo Assembly. The way the members of the national assembly acted, they constituted themselves into the Judge and the Jury in their own case.

I state this point because, there is a subsisting order of a court of competent jurisdiction barring the National Assembly from interfering in the affairs of the State Assembly or take over the state Assembly. Both committees went out in total and flagrant disobedience of the court order. This from sound legal prisms amounts to disobedience of a court order and this is not good for democracy and the rule of law. Recall that a High Court in Benin City last month gave a restraining order to the All Progressives Congress, Inspector General of Police, the Commissioner of Police in Edo State and Mallam Lanre Issa-Onilu, the APC Publicity Secretary, from interfering, disrupting or obstructing the constitutional duties of members of the Edo House of Assembly.

Only last week, a Federal High Court sitting in Port Harcourt restrained the Edo State Governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki from issuing a fresh proclamation letter as directed by the Senate. The court also restrained the Clerk of the National Assembly, the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, their servants, agents, officers or privies from interfering or taking over the legislative functions of the Edo State House of Assembly.

It is my contention that our leaders and institutions saddled with responsibility of protecting democratic norms and national business of law-making, and oversight duties ought to have known better before embarking on that exercise in futility or should not be the ones breaking them. This is because, tax payer’s money has been wasted for such a futile exercise. Both exercises, unfortunately have only worsened the crisis and not helped with any solution.

In my view, the crisis requires either a political or legal solution. The political solution, we hoped would have been for the APC as a political party to hearken to the wise counsel of Senator Rochas Okorocha who made a lot of sense in his submission during the consideration of the Senate Committee report. He counselled his colleagues in the red chambers not to be in a hurry to take over the Edo Assembly. He recommended a political solution since the issue concerns all APC members that internal conflict resolution mechanisms should be exhausted before any other move. He was shut down by the Senate President who seems to have made up his mind what should be. But has that resolved the issue they set out to look into? The answer is an obvious no.

In the same vein, we recall that our revered monarch, the Oba of Benin, His Majesty, Omo N’Oba N’Edo Uku Akpolokpolo, Oba Ewuare II led all the traditional rulers in Edo State on a visit to President Muhammadu Buhari who is the National Leader of the party to solicit his support in bring an amicable solution to the feud. Oba Ewuare II pointedly told President Buhari that “If this crisis is not resolved now with immediate effect, it may jeopardise the progress of the state. On behalf of the good people of Edo State, we kindly appeal to Mr. President to use your good offices to intervene and stop this crisis.’’

This move by Oba Erediauwa ought to have been built upon by the political gladiators in the APC who are in a desperate hurry to foment political upheaval in Edo State. But as an incurable optimist in God that we serve, I believe He will provide the solution, all those who don’t wish Edo State well would fall flat on their face in the fullness of time. They would hide their faces in shame wherever they go and Edo will rise above them.

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• Mr. Dan Owegie is a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Edo State.