Edo Assembly in Rowdy Session as Lawmakers Impeach Speaker
From Adibe Emenyonu in Benin City, 02.23.2010

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The Edo State House of Assembly was yesterday thrown into a rowdy session as some lawmakers purportedly impeached the Speaker, Rt. Hon. Zakawanu Garuba.
Trouble started when Garuba adjourned plenary till today in spite of the impending point of observation raised by Bright Omokhodion (Esan West constituency).

The failure of the Speaker to recognize Omokhodion resulted in hot argument and the seizure of the House mace by the Action Congress (AC) members. It later led to a free-for-all and tear gas and axes were used freely by the lawmakers.
Three AC members - Minority Whip Phillip Shaibu, Johnson Oghuma (Etsako Central constituency) and Kabiru Ajoto (Akoko-Edo 1) - were injured in the brawl.

At this stage, the Speaker was whisked away by his security aides.
After the exit of the speaker, 12 members of the AC and Omokhodion of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who eventually defected to AC bringing the total number of the lawmakers to 13, reconvened and impeached Garuba and his deputy, Levis Aigbogun.

The 13 lawmakers appointed Peter Usman Aliu of the AC (Etsako East) as speaker protempore.
Moving the motion for Garuba and Aigbogun’s impeachment, the former minority leader of the House, Paul Ohonbamu (Egor), said the action was sequel to allegations of fraud and financial impropriety among others levelled against the two.

Ohonbamu also moved a motion for an indefinite suspension of the former Majority Leader of the House, Frank Okiye (Esan North East 1), and Blessing Agbebakun (Owan West) for bringing arms into the assembly.
According to him, “In line with the constitution of this House, we have obtained the 16 members’ signatures calling for the suspension of the speaker and his deputy due to some allegations of fraud, financial impropriety among others. And you know in line with the constitution, the speaker and his deputy cannot be judges in their own cases and accordingly they have left. And I therefore moved that we nominate a speaker protempore in the person of Peter Usman Aliu to take over the proceedings for the time being.”

The speaker protempore, Aliu, after taking the oath of office, constituted a three-man panel to investigate the allegations levelled against the impeached speaker and his deputy.
The panel has Ohonbamu as chairman, Johnson Oghuma (Etsako Central and Esan West), and Omokhodion as members. The panel has seven days to submit its reports.

They also resolved that the impeached speaker, Garuba; his deputy, Aigbogun; Okiye; and Agbebaku should not to be seen within the premises of the House throughout the period the investigation lasts.
Reacting to his impeachment, Garuba in a press briefing in his office said he remained the speaker of the House as the petition was not signed by two-thirds of the lawmakers as required by the 1999 constitution.

He said: “I believe we all live in a civilized society and not in an uncivilized state of nature, where it is survival of the fittest. The constitution and the rules of our House provided for the removal of the speaker, deputy speaker and other offices of the House.
“This can only be done by two-thirds of members of the House which will therefore be 16 out of the 24 members of the House. We have present with me in my office 11 members. It therefore means they can never have 16 since those 11 present with me here said they were never part of what they claimed to have done. The miracle about their activities is that not a single person saw their petition.”

He said nobody saw the petition which they claimed was signed by two-thirds, adding that by virtue of provision of rule 38, he had adjourned plenary indefinitely as only he could reconvene the house.
Garuba, however, declared the seat of Omokhodion, the only PDP member who participated in the purported impeachment, vacant on the ground that he had defected to the AC in accordance with section 109 subsection 2 of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

“Accordingly, I have done a letter to Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to conduct a by-election into the seat of the honourable member representing Esan-West constituency,” he said.
He noted that in line with the provisions of section 109 subsection 2 of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, a letter had been dispatched to Omokhodion informing him of his decision and what the constitution says on such matter.
However, in another press briefing, the Speaker protempore, Aliu, accused Garuba of arrogating to himself the power he does not possess.

Referring to the defection of Omokhodion from PDP to AC, Aliu said a member is free to change his party and that the speaker has no power to suspend or declare the seat of any member vacant.
He said 16 members who constitute two-thirds signed the petition of impeachment of the speaker and his deputy.

“We have suspended and impeached Zakawanu” he said, adding that Okiye, Aigbogun and Agbebaku were also suspended from the House indefinitely.
He therefore requested Garuba to return all House property in his possession to the Assembly, saying that all the suspended members would forfeit their salaries for the period of their suspension in accordance with the House rules.

what are they fighting over could it be money

of course is for the soul of edo state and u are assumed to know what is in such compactment of an oil producing state

If the arabs were to practise the nigerian type of democrazy,
i bet they'd be suicide bombing in the nation's capital on a daily basis.
why wont they kill themselves when our democrazy is winner takes it all?

Another soap opera. . . .watch out for part 2.

They are all in agreement to embezzle and loot the public treasury.

Edo again

zakawanu is a bad man let him go no body contest as lawmaker to be speaker in any were any body in the house can be speaker let zakawanu live

shut up zaks is a good man its the comrade governor that is causing the whole trouble you must follow due process in anything u do, a faction of the house cannot impeach a speaker it must be 2/3 majorithy and the opposing lawmakers how not reach that number so he still the speaker despiste AC' claims of victory

axes

This country is making me sadder everyday.

Zakawanu is a CHEAP hustler. We all saw him on TV where he was breaking peoples heads with a gavel. WHAT KIND OF SPEAKER IS THAT? We saw Frank Okiye use teargas on faces of his colleagues. We saw Blessing Agbebaku live on TV using a battle axe to hack THREE house members! Please if u dont have better things to do, dont insult the intelligence of anyone.
Why did zakawanu not allow the petition to be raised in the spirit of fairness?
Why was he so much insisting that he is still the speaker? Is it his father's own?
If zakawanu is smart enough, he should know that members standing with him in a press conference doesnt mean they support him. They had all gone behind him before that time to sign the petition. Let him continue dreaming and deceiving himself.
Useless and shameless PDP thugs!!
Imagine a so called honorable bringing an axe into the legislative chamber!!

buncha IDIOTS

ehiabj:

what are they fighting over could it be money

what else are these Lazy idiots fighting over, they would have used missiles to Bomb themselves, so that new guys can emerge

kies kies:


Moving the motion for Garuba and Aigbogun’s impeachment, the former minority leader of the House, Paul Ohonbamu (Egor), said the action was sequel to allegations of fraud and financial impropriety among others levelled against the two.

The speaker protempore, Aliu, after taking the oath of office, constituted a three-man panel to investigate the allegations levelled against the impeached speaker and his deputy.
The panel has Ohonbamu as chairman, Johnson Oghuma (Etsako Central and Esan West), and Omokhodion as members. The panel has seven days to submit its reports.

can a corn be innocent in a gathering of fowls?

boy t:

what else are these Lazy idiots fighting over, they would have used missiles to Bomb themselves, so that new guys can emerge

That would have been a welcome development.

axes in the house of representative? is this kung-fu hustle or what?

who called them idiots??

i totally disagree!!!!


never it be on record that they were referred to as idiots.


instead they are a BUNCHA  CLOWNS in the circus called NIGERIA who specialize in entertaining us

am with my soda and popcorn waiting for the concluding part as i have grabbed my copy

shame ful idots, fools

Foolish Edo people

@purestboy- what the heck is wrong with u? are u high or plainly stupid? havent u seen lawmakers from the yoruba states do same thing and worse? Havent u seen federal house of rep members do worse? So how dare u open that orifice u call a mouth and insult edo people?

PurestBoy:

Foolish Edo people

You're such an example of wisdom

</Sarcasm>

This guys are fools,what will warrant a lawmaker bringing weapons to seating. Its quite rediculus.

They are NOT stupid. They are MORONS, IMBECILES!! And in a sane country, the axe carrying legislator should be in jail by now

Administrator, your front page tag is reading ONDO instead of EDO. kindly amend.

Awon agba iyas! Wat a country! Lord have mercy!

Awon agba iyas! Wat a country! Lord have mercy!

Ultrame:

Administrator, your front page tag is reading ONDO instead of EDO. kindly amend.

I wonder o.



Most so called Nigerian lawmakers are nufin but lawbreakers.

edo has turned to ondo?

tpia.:

edo has turned to ondo?

some of these mods really need some a s s whooping

~Bluetooth:

some of these mods really need some a s s whooping

i think they need impeachment, oh! seun rules here lol.anywayz i think we deserve an apology for the misleading topic, i almost fainted.ondo again?

Not surprised, seen such display of stupidity b4 . But the person that axed the speaker should be arrested jor, this offense is punishable by law, lol, i 4got they're lawmakers

IS IT HONORABLE TO FIGHT IN THE HOUSE? I AM ASHAMED OF OUR POLITICIANS!

PurestBoy:

Foolish Edo people

U are a Bastar.d, Your Fada and Mother Foolish, If you don't av anything to say why can't you just read other people's Comment? Dummy