The newly-elected factional speaker of the Edo State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Victor Edoror, on Thursday, led a delegation of other lawmakers on a courtesy visit to the Edo Police Commissioner, Johnson Babatunde Kokumo.
Igbere TV had reported that Hon. Edoror of Esan Central constituency was announced Speaker today in a plenary session attended by 17 lawmakers, while Hon. Emmanuel Agbaje of Akoko-Edo Constituency II was elected Deputy Speaker.
The emergency plenary session held at a private location impeached Hon. Frank Okiye and Roland Asoro as Speaker and Deputy Speaker respectively and nullified all previous actions taken by the 7th Assembly.
At the visit to the Force Headquarters, in Benin City, the Police Commissioner pledged the support of his Office and that of the Edo State Police Command under his watch to the newly inaugurated lawmakers and the Edo Assembly.
Earlier in the day, 14 lawmakers-elect were, first, sworn in and then, together with three other lawmakers who recently pledged their allegiance to Osagie Ize-Iyamu of the All Progressives Congress (APC), impeached the ex-speaker and his deputy.
The Edo State House of Assembly has been embroiled in a crisis since 2019, one that has now been worsened by the buildup to the governorship elections in the state.
Twenty-four lawmakers were elected from the 24 constituencies during the 2019 general elections. However, only 10 of them were inaugurated on July 17 of the same year, sparking a controversy that included intervention from the National Assembly.
Five of the 10 lawmakers that were inaugurated including the Deputy Speaker, Yekini Idiaye, had declared support for Ize-Iyamu last week, after accusing Governor Obaseki of rendering the legislature in the state useless.
In retaliation, Igbere TV had reported that four of the five inaugurated lawmakers loyal to Governor Obaseki, met on Wednesday and impeached Idiaye, replacing him with Asoro.
