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.

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.

Meanwhile, Speaker of the Edo State House of Assembly, Frank Okiye, has rejected the move by the House of Representatives to shut down the assembly.

He stated this in a statement on Wednesday, shortly after the House of Representatives took the decision in Abuja.

The federal lawmakers had 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 Assembly.

They had also called on the state governor, Godwin Obaseki, to issue a fresh proclamation within one week, in the interest of peaceful coexistence of the state.

In his reaction, Okiye told Channels Television that a competent court had already retained the security agencies from taking such an action.

He insisted that the rule of law was prevailing in the State Assembly.

The Edo Speaker said, “Here, there is peaceful conduct of our operation here and the people that are in the National Assembly do not have such powers to issue out such orders.

“I repeat they do not have it. So, it is condemnable and should be resisted.

Okiye also issued a statement at the end of his interview with Channels Television.

Read the full statement below:

It has come to our knowledge that the Ad-hoc Committee of the House of Representatives investigating issues surrounding the inauguration of the Edo State House of Assembly has recommended that the Inspector General of Police (IGP) and Department of State Services (DSS) should seal up the Assembly.

Considering what we came to know in the course of this process, the recommendation of the Ad-Hoc committee does not come to us as a surprise.

For example, the chattered plane marked 5N FCT, which brought the committee members to Benin City, was paid for by the National Chairman of All Progressives Congress (APC), Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, who is a major party in the disagreement.

Also, the younger brother to the National Chairman, Seid Oshiomhole, in a recent leaked audio conversation, revealed the underhand dealings in Abuja regarding the matter.

He stated that Oshiomhole and his proxies have been having meetings with the committee members and other actors in the issue in Abuja and dolling out money to ensure the issue goes in their favour.

With all these, it was clear that the ad-hoc committee was up to no good. Their report was always going to be biased.

Moreover, we want to draw the attention of the general public and the Police to a subsisting court order restraining the Police, headed by the Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Adamu; the National Working Committee of the APC; the DSS and their agents, from interfering in the affairs of the Assembly, as the House has been going about its activities peacefully and without rancor.

The National Assembly must take note that they are expected to act as agents of peace and not merchants of crisis.

Edo State has always been peaceful and any attempt for them to carry out this order will certainly disrupt the peace that is currently being enjoyed in the state.

In a time like this in which the nation is being engulfed in one form of violence or the other, it is unfortunate that the House of Representatives is seen to be promoting violence and exacerbating the tension in the country.