Edo State House of Assembly Speaker, Uyi Igbe
The
Edo State Police Command on Thursday arrested the Speaker of the state
House of Assembly, Uyi Igbe, and the Majority Leader, Philip Shaibu,
over the attack on a lawmaker, Abdulrazak Momoh.
Momoh, whose seat was declared vacant
by the assembly in July, was said to have been attacked by thugs on
Tuesday after he allegedly ignored the instruction of security men not
to enter the legislative quarters.
The Peoples Democratic Party lawmaker
was rushed to the Accident and Emergency Ward of the University of Benin
Teaching Hospital.
The PDP had in a statement by its
Chairman, Chief Dan Orbih, on Wednesday, accused Shaibu and other APC
lawmakers of masterminding the attack.
It was gathered that Igbe, Shaibu and
another member, Mr. Folly Ogedegbe, were invited to the state police
command by the Commissioner of Police, Foluso Adebanjo, at about 11am on
Thursday.
But the Majority Leader told newsmen
that they were at the state police headquarters on their own but
were detained for an offence they knew nothing about.
He wondered why the police did not
prevent the PDP lawmakers from forcefully entering the assembly complex
on the day of the incident.
Shaibu said, “We came on our own
volition but they have kept us here for over three hours for a matter we
knew nothing about. You could see the intimidation.
“When the PDP lawmakers, including
Momoh, forcefully broke into the assembly complex, the police did not
invite them let alone arrest them.
“All the court orders that were issued
against them were not obeyed. The police did not do anything to
enforce the orders. But you can see we have been detained here since for
an issue we know nothing about.”
Momoh also said they had been invited by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission to appear before it in Abuja on Monday.
He said the reasons for their invitation was not stated by the anti-graft agency.
The lawmaker added, “The EFCC also
invited us to Abuja on Monday. But Nigeria is currently being
embarrassed in South Africa for money laundering perpetrated by the
Federal Government, and the EFCC has not done anything. This is an
attempt to intimidate and eliminate all (Governor Adams) Oshiomhole’s
loyalists before the next elections.
“The Federal Government must be careful.
The EFCC is not arresting those people who stole our money but they are
inviting us when we don’t award contracts. It is a plan to use federal
might. The President (Dr. Goodluck Jonathan) should talk to his people
because we cannot be intimidated.”
The APC in the state has however raised
the alarm over what it considers as a plot by the PDP, through the
Federal Government, to incarcerate all Oshiomhole’s loyalists.
The party, in a statement by its
Publicity Secretary, Godwin Erhahon, said, “We are aware of the plots by
the PDP to arrest, maim, and eliminate those perceived to be loyalists
of Governor Oshiomhole.
“The lawmaker who was beaten went there
with thugs and it has nothing to do with our lawmakers. Why are they
being arrested by the police?
“But we want to warn that any attempt to
intimidate our people in Edo State will be resisted. The PDP cannot use
federal might to hunt our people. We are still battling Boko Haram, let
us not face another war in Edo State because it might be too much for
(President Goodluck) Jonathan to handle.”
The Edo State police commissioner could
not be reached for comment on the interrogation of the lawmakers as of
the time of filing this report.
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