The crisis rocking the Edo State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC), which has led to the factionalisation of the state House of Assembly, festered Wednesday as the House of Representatives declared illegal the June 17 proclamation of the state legislature by the Governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki.
The House, while considering the report of the ad hoc committee it set up to probe the division in the state legislature, asked Obaseki to issue a fresh proclamation for the inauguration of the Assembly.
But THISDAY learnt that the governor would ignore the directive of the House of Representatives because his hands have been tied by the constitution.
The House of Representatives gave him one week to do so or have security agencies shut down the state legislature or the federal lawmakers would take over the Assembly’s legislative functions.
But a top government official confided in THISDAY wednesday, shortly after the House adopted the report of the ad hoc committee that the resolution was illegal.
The source said the governor had discharged his constitutional responsibility on the issuance of a proclamation for the holding of the first session of the legislature and his hands are tied by Section 105(3) of the 1999 Constitution(as amended), from re-issuing another one.
Section 105(3) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), which empowers a governor to issue proclamation for a state legislature, reads: “subject to the provisions of this Constitution, the person elected as Governor of a State shall have power to issue a proclamation for the holding of the first session of the House of Assembly of the state concerned immediately after his being sworn in, or for its dissolution as provided in this section.”
The Speaker of the House of Assembly, Hon. Frank Okiye, also faulted the resolutions of the federal lawmakers and urged security agencies to respect subsisting court order that the legislature should not be disturbed from performing its lawful duties.
THISDAY
