APC plan to remove Obaseki as 12 lawmakers-elect take oath of office at a hidden location

Barely a month to the Edo State governorship election, the All Progressives Congress, APC has planned to remove the State governor, Godwin Obaseki as twelve lawmakers-elect of the State House of Assembly have reportedly taken their oath of office at a hidden location.

This comes more than one year after they were elected. The faction has elected Victor Edoror as speaker. Edoror was impeached as deputy speaker in 2018.

The crisis between Governor Godwin Obaseki and Adams Oshiomhole, former national chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), had split the assembly.

A faction loyal to the governor had been in charge of the assembly while the loyalists of Oshiomhole were left out despite all attempts to be inaugurated.

But as some of the lawmakers in the camp of Obaseki, led by Yekini Idiaye, the deputy speaker, endorsed Osagie Ize-Iyamu, APC candidate for the September 19 gubernatorial election, the pro-Oshiomhole lawmakers re-launched the move for  their inauguration.

A source said that they took their oath of office at a hidden location in the state on Thursday.

The source said they have been mandated to remove Obaseki one month to the governorship election.

Newsflash247 could not independently verify this claim.

Obaseki had defected from the APC to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) after he was screened out of the governorship race of the APC.

The fresh crisis at the state assembly broke out after the impeachment of Idiaye.

Hours after Idiaye’s removal, Frank Okiye, the speaker of the House of Assembly, raised the alarm that there was a plot to forcefully take over the assembly.

On Thursday morning, security operatives stormed the assembly, leading to a protest.

Okiye had alleged that the leadership of the APC was behind the action of the security operatives.

He also accused the other faction of the assembly of planning to topple the government of Obaseki.

NEWS: VIDEO: Drama in Edo as thugs invade the House of Assembly, take down mace and remove roofs

“The Edo State House of Assembly condemns any attempt to operate the House of Assembly Complex at Ring Road, currently undergoing renovation as the inaugurated members and the Rt. Hon. Speaker have relocated the House via a letter widely circulated to a new address at Dennis Osadebay Avenue,” he said in a statement.

“Any attempt to operate the House of Assembly Complex at Ring Road, amounts to an attempt to topple a constituted government which in turn amounts to an act of treason.

“Forceful entry into the premises amounts to trespass, being that the House members have suspended activities at the building; their action will amount to disturbance of public peace which is also an offense.”

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