Oshiomhole’s Speaker Barred From Conference

PHOTO: FORMER SPEAKER, EDO STATE HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY, HON. GARUBA ZAKAWANU.

MAKURDI, BENUE April 25, (THEWILL) - The Controversial Speaker of Edo State House of Assembly, Honourable Bright Omokhodion was at Makurdi, the Benue State capital, barred from participating at the just concluded Conference of Speakers in Nigeria.

The Edo speaker was barred because of his controversial entry into the Speaker-ship position, a development the conference reasoned discarded all known democratic means in removing the previous Speaker, Zakawanu Garuba.

In a reaction to the development, a group under the aegis of Afemai Peoples Forum (APF) said the action by the Conference of Nigerian Speakers was a plus for democracy and congratulated the conference for taking  bold step to save our fledgling democratic institutions.

"We the entire members of Afemai Peoples’ Forum hereby congratulate the Conference of Speakers in Nigeria for preventing Bright Omonkhodion, the Speaker of Edo State House of Assembly from attending their meeting which held over the weekend in Makurdi, Benue State, " the statement made available to THEWILL  and signed by the National chairman, Isah Aliyu, read in part.

The group noted that by preventing Honourable Omonkhodion from the meeting, the Speakers of the other 35 States’ Houses of Assembly in Nigeria have demonstrated that, the sanctity of our democratic institutions runs paramount in their hearts.

"Edo State has been politically restive for the past one year. We are happy today because we believe that through the collective efforts of all, the already muscled legislative arm of government in the State and many others will be rescued, " the statement further said.

"In Edo State, Honourable Omonkhodion is popularly referred to as the ‘AC Speaker’ and sometimes 'Oshiomhole’s Speaker.' He was made the Speaker of the House by 13 members and has been sitting with only these thirteen members for the past two months when Honourable Zakawanu Garuba was forcefully impeached. The required number to impeach the Speaker remains 16 since the State House of Assembly has a total of twenty four members, " the group said.

The group also said that the Conference of Speakers realized the injustice being meted to Honourable Zakawanu Garuba by the 13 Action Congress members, with backing from the reckless Governor Oshiomhole.  

The group added that since this confusion two months ago, the thirteen Action Congress members sitting with Hon Omonkhodion have carried on with recklessness in the passage of laws and appropriation of state resources. The House has become a Ministry under the Executive with the new Speaker briefing the Executive minute-by-minute. No legislature can function like this.