Edo North APC flays Obaseki for allegedly depriving 1.6 million people representation in Assembly

The leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Edo North Senatorial District have condemned the continued deprivation of some constituencies in the state of representation in the Edo State House of Assembly (EDHA), noting that over the 14 members-elect have not been inaugurated to the 24-member Assembly since June 2019.

The APC leaders expressed their displeasure over the matter in a statement issued after their meeting in Auchi, Etsako West Local Government Area of the state and made available to newsmen in Benin on Monday.

In the statement endorsed by the convener of the meeting, Sunny Ifijen, it noted that people had been deprived of their voice in the Assembly because of the non-inauguration of their elected representatives.

He further added that the affected constituencies had been deprived of the benefits of enjoying democratic dividends having lost a voice through which they could have channelled their needs and challenges to the government.

He stated that the present situation where only 10 members currently sit and make law in the EDHA was an affront to the constitution and had also made a mockery of the nation’s democracy.

“Where only 10 members were nocturnally inaugurated on June 17, 2019, and 14 others deprived their inauguration by Governor Godwin Obaseki, who has also muzzled the judiciary over the fate of the 14 lawmakers-elect, is executive rascality and a slap on Nigeria democracy.

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“It is regrettably historic that nearly three years after the election, 14 constituencies are without representation in Edo Assembly.

“The implication is that the voices of over 1.6 million people are not being heard in the Edo Assembly. The absurdity in Edo Legislature is a rape on Nigeria democracy.

“Bauchi State that had a similar crisis in June 2019 had it resolved in same 2019 because the governor, Senator Bala Mohammed, proved to be a better democrat than the Edo governor,” he lamented.

Ifijen regretted that despite efforts by the 14 members-elect and civil society groups to seek justice against the democratic anomaly from the State High Court, National Assembly and Code of Conduct Bureau, Obaseki had subverted all potential justice on the matter.