As the drama ahead of the September 19 Edo Guber poll intensifies, 12 members of the All Progressives Congress in the state House of Assembly have taken their oath of office.
The swearing-in took place on Thursday after a reported takeover of the Assembly complex by security operatives.
According to reports, unknown men removed the roof of the complex, took down the mace and then blocked the entrance with lorry loads of heavy sand.
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had blamed the All Progressives Congress (APC) for the siege.
The APC, however, denied the allegation that it brought police personnel from Abuja to block the Assembly complex.
In a statement on Thursday, Chairman of the APC Media Campaign Council in Edo, John Mayaki, explained that as a political party, the APC does not control the police.
He accused the Edo State government of carrying out several onslaughts against the constitutional independence of the legislative arm of government by attacking its members-elect and denying them representation.
Mayaki alleged that the governor was responsible for a number of sieges on the Assembly complex, adding that he was in the best position to explain who sponsored the blockade of the Assembly.
“It is a known fact that the outgoing governor, Mr Godwin Obaseki, has treated the House of Assembly, an independent and co-equal branch of government, as a mere extension of his office through the brutalisation of members-elect and the denial of representation to the majority of members,” he claimed.
Recall that the House of Assembly had declared vacant the seats of 12 lawmakers-elect yet to be inaugurated in December.
