recess, and, expectedly, sat at two different venues on Monday.
While the lawmakers of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) sat at the
State Assembly Complex, their All Progressives Party counterparts held
their sitting at the Government House.
Both factions proposed and adopted their business calendars for the new quarter.
Since June, the Edo lawmakers have been holding parallel sittings at
the separate venues.
The House was divided after the suspension of three PDP members of the
House and the deputy speaker, who is a member of the APC. They were
accused of gross misconduct.
Three of the suspended lawmakers defected from the APC to the PDP
before they were suspended. The lawmakers dismissed the allegations
and insisted that they would continue to attend plenaries. They claim
that the House did not follow due process in suspending them.
After their suspension, in what has been described as legislative
infamy, they made an early appearance at the House in an attempt to
suspend the substantive speaker of the House and 15 others.
They were joined by four other PDP lawmakers and declared the majority
suspended.
But there was more trouble when the majority forced their way back
into the House and drove them away.
Their action flared tempers as riot policemen were deployed to control
the violence which broke out.
The two groups later briefed the press with each staking a claim to
the leadership of the House.
Traditional leaders had asked the lawmakers to resolve the crisis
before it escalates, but Monday's separate plenaries showed that they
were still far from resolving the issue.
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