OPINION: Edo; A house divided against itself

By Isaac Asabor

“And knowing their thoughts, He said to them. Any kingdom that is divided against itself is being brought to desolation and laid waste, and no city or house divided against itself will last or continue to stand.” Without any iota of exaggeration, the foregoing scriptural injunction which is written in the Bible in the book of Matthew chapter 12 verse 25 is already coming into fulfillment if the crisis that is presently rocking the Edo State House of Assembly (EDHA) is anything to go by.

As everyone that is abreast of the prevailing political development in Edo State ahead of the gubernatorial election scheduled for September 19, 2020 may have heard,   some men on Thursday vandalized the Edo State House of Assembly and removed its roof.

According to a video shared by Channels Television, the men were seen removing the iconic legislative mace on top of the building. The video also showed trucks offloading gravels at the entrance of the Assembly Complex while the suspected vandals trooped into the building.

Prior to the ruckus, the media had reported that policemen on Thursday surrounded the Assembly complex in Benin City, the state capital, saying that the retrogressive development came up  barely 24 hours after the Deputy Speaker, Yekini Idiaye, was impeached by the state lawmakers.

The member representing Orhionmwon-South constituency, Roland Asoro, has since being appointed Deputy Speaker and was immediately administered the oath of office and oath of allegiance by the Speaker.

As reported in the media, no security operative was seen in the video shared by Channels Television, and it was reported that Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki, may have ordered the “immediate renovation” of the state House of Assembly.

There was tension in the Assembly on Thursday morning following the heavy presence of security agents, and shortly after Obaseki and the Speaker, Frank Okiye, addressed PDP supporters at the complex.  It was learnt that the governor ordered the heaping of sand at the front of the Edo State House of Assembly complex. Several artisans were also seen removing the roof of the complex as of 3pm on Thursday.

The media was agog with the news that following Idiaye’s impeachment on Wednesday that the Speaker of the House, Frank Okiye, said Idiaye was impeached because he allegedly planned with the leaders of the All Progressives Congress  (APC) and the Imo State Governor, Hope Uzodinma, “to illegally and violently take over” the Assembly.

It would be recalled that Idiaye and some lawmakers had on Monday pledged their support for the APC governorship candidate, Osagie Ize-Iyamu.

The Speaker, in an address aired through social media shortly after the impeachment of Idiaye, called on the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd.), to call members of his party to order.

The speaker said, “We have it on good authority, the dubious plans by the governor of Imo State, Senator Hope Uzodinma, and the stakeholders of APC in Edo State to import a fake maze to take over the Edo State House of Assembly working in cohort with the former deputy speaker who recently declared his support for the governorship candidate of APC to congregate in a separate location to illegally and violently take over the Edo State House of Assembly as brought to our notice.

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“And so, we call on the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, President Muhammadu Buhari and the presidency to urgently call this governor and others working with him to execute this illegal plan to desist and allow the laws of the state to guide them.

“The state polity is already heated up by the political tension from the various electioneering campaign. Their planned action is likened to lightening a match in an already tensed political environment which conflagration is capable of causing crisis in the state and may scale beyond imagination.

“We call on Edo State people, whose mandate and interest the state legislature holds and protect, to rise against this attack and plot to subvert their will and subjugate them using external forces.

“We urge lovers of democracy across the world and institutions that uphold democracy and value, as well as pro-democracy groups to denounce this planned illegality that seems to distract a duly constituted authority.

“We recognize the constitutional rights of the three members of the Assembly to support the candidate of their choice but that should not distract them from coming to work to carry out the job for which they were elected and become an agent of mutiny against their own primary constituencies.

“We are as always committed to protecting the democratic rights of our people as the legislature remains the sacred institution in the democratization process signed by my honorable self on behalf of the Edo State House of Assembly.”

With about six weeks to the September 19 governorship election in Edo, the political atmosphere gets turbo-charged day after day.

Governor Godwin Obaseki, who is seeking reelection on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party, will face Ize-Iyamu of the APC, and other political contenders.

To my view, the reality of the fact that Edo is divided against itself like the divided biblical house that was spoken of by the Lord Jesus Christ in the book of Matthew is becoming more glaring when seen from the perspective of what is today happening in EDHA.

To my view, the house called Edo ought to have being together in love, peace and unity and not divided against itself as the reality on ground suggests. It is expedient to mention in this piece that this contextual divided house is not what departed leaders, such as late Dr. Samuel Ogbemudia and Prof. Ambrose Folorunsho Alli of blessed memory dreamt of. The Edo they dreamt of can be inferred from the speeches and statements they made at different political and social events during their earthly journey.

In order to keep Edo as a house that is not divided against itself, it is enough to say that Edolites should begin to emulate departed Edo leaders that have had to bury their differences and embraced themselves, even when there was enough reason to fight.

I must confess that whatever efforts that needs to be made in ensuring that Edo would not continue to be divided against itself should be made without delay.

Finally, Edolites should ensure that the house called Edo should no more be divided against itself as we are all brothers and sisters.