Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State has said that he has no power to bring back 14 state House of Assembly members elected on the platform of the All Progressives Congress in 2019.
The elected legislators were not inaugurated with their colleagues, because the proclamation by the governor was done at night.
Obaseki commented on the fate of the elected men when he paid a thank-you visit to the National Working Committee (NWC), of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), in Abuja.
Obaseki claimed the group of the 14 elected-lawmakers were not prevented from being inaugurated but they “refused to be inaugurated”.
“They were listening to their godfather who kept hoping and promising that he would unconstitutionally get the state House of Assembly to reissue a proclamation even after the court had settled the matter.
“For more than 180 days they did not come. They refused to represent the people. Those seats became vacant; that’s what the constitution says.
“They went to court after those were declared vacant by the Speaker. There is nothing I can do to that at this time.
“I wish it did not happen but people were playing God and promising what is not constitutionally possible.
“It is not about me. I am an elected governor of Edo. I am not one that plants people into the house of Assembly.
“They on their own operated the rules the way it should be, the seats are now vacant.
“We should learn that democracy is underpinned by the constitution and the law.
“Even if I wanted today to bring them back, I don’t have such powers.
“I do not have anything against them because I do not have such authority to bring them back to the house,” Obaseki said.
Asked for his reaction to the declaration by Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu, the Candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), in Edo Election that he was approaching the court that Obaseki was not qualified to run, the governor said he would wait for the court’s outcome.
Obaseki, was accompanied by the Deputy Gov. Philip Shaibu and other PDP leaders from Edo including former Minister of Works Mike Onolememen and the former Minister of External Affairs, Chief Tom Ikimi
