By Ayodele Oluwafemi
Comrade Adams Oshiomhole has opened up on the crisis in the state chapter of the All Progressives Congress, APC and denied any role in the adoption of the House of Representatives resolution to take over the Edo State House of Assembly.
He said that no amount of those he described as little minds and anti-democrats can destroy his name.
It was a rare comment from the immediate past governor of the state and national chairman of the ruling party who as the outgoing governor went out of the way to force Gov Godwin Obaseki as his successor.
Speaking through his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Simon Ebegbulem in a statement issued late on Wednesday, Oshiomhole said the allegation that he sponsored the motion as adopted by the legislators could only have been the imagination of the purveyors.
He said:
“The allegation is a figment of their imagination. Ordinarily, I will not want to be drawn into frivolous allegations such as this, and sundry others, emanating from Mr. Frank Okiye, one of the members Elect of the Edo State House of Assembly.
“But, let me state that the allegation is untrue. As members of the National Assembly, it is their duty to intervene on issues such as the Gestapo manner the Edo Assembly was inaugurated. This will not be the first time the National Assembly has so intervened, and I am sure the lawmakers also have provisions in their budget for carrying out such duties.
“Okiye may have seen the National Chairman holding such meetings in his own dreams and not in the physical and I urge him to desist from such frivolous allegations.
“Oshiomhole remains Oshiomhole, and no amount of blackmail and threat from these little minded anti democrats and their cohorts can destroy that name.”
Meanwhile, the Speaker of the Edo State House of Assembly, Frank Okiye has accused the national chairman of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole of having influenced the report of the House of Representatives Committee that investigated the crisis in the House.
The Speaker in a statement on Wednesday also urged the Inspector General of Police and the Director General of the Department of State Services to respect existing court orders including one that has directed the security agencies not to disrupt the operations of the State House of Assembly.
In the statement, the Speaker alleged that the plane that brought the members of the House of Representatives ad-hoc committee to Benin was paid for by Comrade Oshiomhole.
He said:
“It has come to our knowledge that the Ad-hoc Committee of the House of Representatives investigating issues surrounding the inauguration of the Edo State House of Assembly has recommended that the Inspector General of Police (IGP) and Department of State Services (DSS) should seal up the Assembly.
“Considering what we came to know in the course of this process, the recommendation of the Ad-Hoc committee does not come to us as a surprise.
“For example, the chattered plane marked 5N FCT, which brought the committee members to Benin City, was paid for by the National Chairman of All Progressives Congress (APC), Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, who is a major party in the disagreement.
“Also, the younger brother to the National Chairman, Seid Oshiomhole, in a recent leaked audio conversation, revealed the underhand dealings in Abuja regarding the matter. He stated that Oshiomhole and his proxies have been having meetings with the committee members and other actors in the issue in Abuja and dolling out money to ensure the issue goes in their favour.
“With all these, it was clear that the ad-hoc committee was up to no good. Their report was always going to be biased.
“Moreover, we want to draw the attention of the general public and the Police to a subsisting court order restraining the Police, headed by the Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Adamu; the National Working Committee of the APC; the DSS and their agents, from interfering in the affairs of the Assembly, as the House has been going about its activities peacefully and without rancor.
“The National Assembly must take note that they are expected to act as agents of peace and not merchants of crisis. Edo State has always been peaceful and any attempt for them to carry out this order will certainly disrupt the peace that is currently being enjoyed in the state.
“In a time like this in which the nation is being engulfed in one form of violence or the order, it is unfortunate that the House of Representatives is seen to be promoting violence and exacerbating the tension in the country.”
