The House of Representatives has asked the Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, and the Director-General of the Department of State Services, DSS, Yusuf Bichi, to shut down the Edo State House of Assembly.
This followed the adoption of a report of the House ad-hoc committee set up to investigate the crisis rocking the state Assembly on Wednesday, July 17, 2019.
On July 9, members of the lower chamber of the National Assembly considered a motion seeking to take over the functions of the Edo Assembly, in line with the Constitution.
They had also constituted a committee led by Abdurazak Namdas to investigate the crisis and recommend actions to be taken by the House.
Shortly after considering the report of the panel on Wednesday, the lawmakers adopted it and asked the heads of the police and DSS to seal the Edo State House of Assembly.
In line with the recommendations of the report, they agreed that Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki, in the interest of peaceful coexistence of the state, “Should issue a fresh proclamation within one week in line with Section 105(3) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended), stating the date, time and venue (of the inauguration), and publish in any national daily and television station.”
“That all actions taken by the 7th Assembly members should be declared null and void pending proper inauguration.
“That all members of the Edo State House of Assembly, both those who have been inaugurated and those who have not been inaugurated should dissolve their factions in the interest of peace and stability of the House, with the view to moving the state forward.
“That the Inspector-General of Police and the Director-General, Department of State Services, should shut down the Edo State House of Assembly and provide adequate security to allay further fears of intimidation and threat as alleged by members-elect,” the adopted report also recommended.
The lawmakers also resolved that “Where recommendations 1, 2 and 3 above fail, the National Assembly should invoke the provisions of Section 11 (4) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) to take over the state House of Assembly until the situation normalises.”
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