Guardian / Nigeria: There was pandemonium yesterday within the Edo State House of Assembly amid sporadic gunshots as the Speaker, Victor Edoror was impeached by 16 of the 24 members of the assembly.
Thugs invaded the chamber shooting everywhere and in the process, not less than six persons were injured.Trouble started when the Majority Leader, Folly Ogedegbe, moved a motion for the impeachment of the speaker and the Deputy Speaker, Bright Osayande. The motion was seconded by the member representing Esan North East, Patrick Iluobe.
The motion reads in part: “We the under-listed and undersigned honourable members representing the various constituencies in the Edo State House of Assembly have on this day 3rd of May 2016 resolved to impeach our speaker, Hon. Chief Victor Edoror Tiger and the Deputy Speaker Hon. Osayande for acts of gross misconduct.”
Iluobe was later appointed as Speaker extempore to preside over the business of the day .A new speaker, Mrs. Elizabeth Ativie representing Uhunmwode was elected while Dr. Joseph Okonoboh representing Igueben was elected deputy speaker.
Immediately the new speaker was sworn in, Edoror and his deputy walked into the chamber in company of the thugs shooting sporadically to scare people out of the chambers. In the process a lot of peoples sustained injuries.
Addressing reporters immediately after the fracas, the new speaker, Ativie said the members could no longer tolerate the greedy nature of the speaker.
She said the impeached speaker had up to six different financial cases with the EFCC and the members could not continue to allow such a person to lead the House.
She therefore said that a five-member committee headed by Kabiru Adjoto representing Akoko-Edo 1 would investigate the financial recklessness of the impeached speaker from June 2015 till May 3rd.
She said if found wanting at the end of the three months when the committee would submit their report he would be handed over to the appropriate authority.
Adjoto said: “As it is today, Edoror has a lot of EFCC cases hanging on his neck. You media men can go and verify this, we cannot afford to have a speaker that is being investigated by the EFCC because of his corrupt nature. As earlier mentioned by our new speaker, Edoror has a corrupt tendency that cannot be mentioned. Enough is enough, that is why 16 members of the house today signed an impeachment notice against him. As we speak today, both APC and PDP members in the House signed the impeachment notice against him.”
Shortly after the sitting, Edoror and six other lawmakers also met in the chamber claiming that there was nothing like impeachment in the assembly.
It could also be recalled that the 24 members of the House revolted against the leadership of the Speaker recently which culminated in a rowdy plenary session over alleged refusal by the state government to buy them official vehicles which later forced the House to proceed on indefinite vacation.
Meanwhile, some reporters who were in the impeached speaker’s office to get his reaction to the alleged corruption by him, were beaten and rough-handled by suspected thugs.
Despite the presence of fully armed security men in the office, the journalists, who were more than 20 in number, were ambushed by the thugs as soon as the ex-speaker was through with addressing the press.
