“Our State is not a colony or a vassal of any person or persons exercising power in Abuja and we shall take all necessary steps within the ambit of the law to defend and validate our position and actions on this matter.”
The Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki, has reacted to the one week ultimatum given to him by the Senate to make a fresh proclamation, innugurate a new assembly or the state House of Assembly be taken over.
In a statement sent to www.theoctopusnews.com and signed by the Secretary to the State Government, Osarodion Ogie Esq., he described the move by the Senate as unconstitutional.
According to him, there is nowhere in the Constitution particularly Section 11(4) which enables the National Assembly to “take over” any House of Assembly or in this respect, the Edo State House of Assembly, adding that the power to issue a proclamation for the Inauguration of a House of Assembly as set out in Section 105(3) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria was duly and completely complied with and it is not within the power of the Governor to recall same once issued or to perform the same act multiple times.
Stating that the move by the Senate was expected, Obaseki, said it was informed based on the enormous political pressure which had been brought to bear on the Officers and Members of the distinguished Senate by highly placed and powerful persons who are intent on foisting their will and choices on the good people of Edo State.
He therefore called on all persons of goodwill to call the powerful wielders of “power and authority” in Abuja and elsewhere to refrain from acts which are clearly unconstitutional, undemocratic and a flagrant disrespect for the principle of due process and separation of powers, adding that these powerful persons should not be allowed to set Edo state ablaze merely to satisfy their thirst for power and control.
Obaseki, further described as unfortunate that the Distinguished senate would act in flagrant breach of various court orders and purport to come to factual and legal conclusions concerning a matter in which the parties are already before the courts and therefore subjudice, adding that it is surprising that members of the Distinguished senate appear to have very scent regards for the principle of separation of powers as enshrined in the constitution which is manifested by their taking over the functions of the judiciary in dispute resolution and giving directives to a Government of a state who is certainly not subject to the supervision of the National Assembly.
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