FESTUS EBEA, All Progressives Congress (APC) member representing Esan South East Constituency in Edo State House of Assembly, was the Deputy Speaker before the crisis in the chamber. He speaks with Special Correspondent, TITUS OISE, on the crisis in the House and other issues…
Suspension of four members from the House
Festus EbeaThe suspension is quite laughable because the rule which they stated to occasion or back up the suspension, Rule 38 (3, 4 and 6), is quite explicit to the effect that for you to be suspended, you must be at the sitting and it is one person at a time. You cannot suspend a group. Also, in line with the law of natural justice, they did not even give us fair hearing, if they felt they must do it outside the realm, as stated in the rule book. So, if you are going to suspend us when we are not even there, why did you not set up a body to first of all hear from us? A situation whereby some people sat down and decided to take a decision against members with whom they have been working together for the interest of Edo State and no single person could come out of there to say, ‘can we just give one of these persons the chance to be heard?’ or, ‘let us really confirm’, is laughable. The suspension must be based on what you did while on the floor of the House and not what was purported to have been done. They said, “misconduct”; that the Deputy Speaker was always in nocturnal meetings with other people. What is funny about it is that the people met me, as the Deputy Speaker, in my official residence, not elsewhere. When the suspension came, the Speaker and others decided to deal with the former APC lawmakers that defected, going about to allege that the three defectors – Patrick Osayimwen (Oredo East), Friday Ogieriakhi (Orhionmwon South) and Jude Idehen (Ikpoba-Okha) – got money to defect to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and that they (Speaker and others) were induced. The ones who alleged were the ones who got money. When money was shared to remaining APC legislators, they did not consider the rest. They offered me money because I had not crossed; but I refused. Mine was even tripled; but I still refused because the issues I have with them are clearly stated and, till tomorrow, I will not back down on those issues. It is not about me. So God, the judge of all, knows if I had collected money from PDP, the federal government or from any other human being to do what I am doing. It is a pity because if you do not toe the line of some people who feel they are powerful, they believe that you are against them and then you become a target. Nobody induced me. In as much as I know that I cannot speak for any of my colleagues, if you verify from them, you will find that they were not induced.
Suspension of Speaker, Uyi Igbe; Majority Leader, Philip Shiabu; and other senior members of the House by eight PDP members
If they felt they formed a quorum, hence they suspended us without calling us, we equally have the right. The House of Assembly is not meant for only Mr. Speaker and any other person; it is meant for all of us. So, as soon as we realised that, we equally formed a quorum. To form a quorum in the Edo House of Assembly, there has to be eight members. But we were nine and I am the Deputy Speaker. So, if I got in there in the absence of the Speaker and I felt he could not come around, we had the right to sit, especially when we had urgent issues. So, that was why we got there and equally suspended them.
Basis for suspending Speaker, others
We suspended them on the ground that they acted illegally, having suspended us. The law is for all of us. So, we equally took it up and made sure that they were suspended.
Bringing miscreants into Edo Assembly
You must have seen, on television, the thugs they imported into the compound. It is unbecoming as a House of Assembly. As lawmakers, we cannot be seen to be breaking the laws. It is wrong to bring in people who have no legitimate business being there. The thugs brandished weapons; cars were smashed; and some honourable members, who were not members of the ruling APC, were injured. The issue is because people are crossing over to PDP. I believe that it is on record that there was a time a PDP senator crossed over to Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), and heaven did not fall. Recently, when my brother from my own Esan Senatorial Zone crossed from the ruling PDP to the APC, we received him in the House and went to his residence to have a drink across party lines. But in this case, because people have crossed from APC to PDP, they were suspended. Also, because they could read body language that I had the intention to cross, the Speaker and his followers decided to add me to it. Why must you persecute me for intention?
Breaking into the chambers in connivance with the police
I have no business with the police. Every honourable member as the policeman attached to him or her. I did not see the police in any untoward behaviour. They should not get the police involved. When they were doing their illegal deeds; when they had boys entering the compound, were policemen not there? Did they stop them? When they had people brandishing dangerous weapons, destroying my car and that of my colleagues, the policemen were there. Did they stop them? The Nigeria police are not there to restrain us from engaging in whatever activity. But what is important is that, we went in there. The police did not play any role in whatever we did there that day.
Save-our-soul message to President Goodluck Jonathan, the Inspector-General of Police by Igbe and others over security
They are all bundles of lies, in the sense that I believe in sanctity of human life. That is why it pains me to see my colleagues of three years raising false alarm over assassination threats because of money or power. I cannot do that. God knows that if I plan to assassinate my colleagues, he would never let me see the light of day. Like I tell people, the Speaker is a nice person. The closest of all honourable members to me is the Majority Leader. He is the only person I visit in his residence. I do not even go to the Speaker’s house as much as I visit the Majority Leader’s house. We belong to the same Catholic faith, we attend the same parish, we sit together and we receive the Holy Communion together. If they do not know the meaning of that, I do. I still love him despite all this. He was outstanding in the little truce we were able to broker recently because he played a prominent role. I believe that the spirit of God touched all of us and used him seriously to make sure that we were able to get on with the business, despite that we spent 12 tortuous hours trying to talk to each other. So, anybody who says the Speaker is marked for assassination is lying. I know that my other colleagues will not do that and I pray that God will not let it come to reality.
Using a mace stolen since 2010, when the PDP leadership of the house was removed by the then ACN
What is a mace? Is it a human being? Is it not the creation of somebody? Let us not talk about the mace because it is not an issue. What is more important is what precipitated the crisis. When we went on vacation, was there crisis? What suddenly entered their heads that they felt that they wanted to use their power because might is right? They should not talk about the mace because it was not delivered like a child by a woman, with chromosomes and genotype. It is a human creation; a sculptural work. If they want to talk, let them talk about the fact that they brought in thugs into the Assembly to do their evil deeds which lasted just 10 minutes. It is unbelievable.
Outcome of the 12-hour meeting between the two factions in the chambers on June 11
God was in control because some of the members from the Speaker’s side were poised for war. Some of them were there with bullet-proof vests hidden under their normal clothes. But when they got in there, they found out that God was there with the overall bullet-proof for all of us. We started asking ourselves why we were fighting one another because it was not worth it. We sat and negotiated. Those who were suspended were angry and terms were negotiated. But in the spirit of negotiation and putting Edo first and the fact that no matter what, the comrade governor still remained the governor, we will not be happy to see the state being made ungovernable for him. Let me use this opportunity to call on the ruling party to tell their members to sheathe their swords. Trying to throw might around will not help governance of this state because the people of Edo will be at loss. I do not think the comrade governor and the lawmakers would want that. We are trying to find a solution to the problem. At the end of that meeting, the Speaker directed the Majority Leader and the Minority Leader to harmonise positions, so that a consideration would be moved forward for lifting the suspension formally.
The court injunction
The court injunction is a nullity. We also served them a court injunction on June 6, but they broke it the following Monday. So, what is their own court injunction? I do not think the court injunction is meant for us. We know that we will live above court injunction because the interest of Edo people must be served. Court injunction from both parties will not help the aspirations of Edo people. I really feel sad that we have got to this stage in our politics and I beg God to shower His love once more on us and give us the grace to understand that, first and foremost, we must do that which is expected by right-thinking members of society. The governor started well. But what is going on? We all have joined him to move the state forward. But suddenly, politics, interest and ambition are now tearing the state apart. I do not think we were voted in to do that. I call on my colleagues to come and surprise the state, that we have been able to sink our differences. We must unite for the sake of our people of Edo.
Conditions for peaceful resolution
Our demands are clear. The level of impunity must be brought down. There must be tolerance from both sides. Like I said, people have been moving from Party A to Party B and heaven did not fall. Why can members of Party B not move to Party A? When there is tolerance, we will move forward. The governor should not play politics inside the hallowed chambers or with house members. There might be caucuses; but they should not exist in such a way that members will begin to flex muscles to show who is stronger because it does not help the cause of why we are there. Politics should be played at the party secretariat and not the State Assembly.