We must get to the root of this madness — Oshiomhole
By Simon Ebegbulem
THOUGH those who have been following the crisis bedevilling the Edo State House of Assembly for some time now knew that the centre cannot no longer hold between the 15 All Progressives Congress, APC, lawmakers and the nine Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, members. But what they never knew was that it will result to reckless bloodbath. Last Saturday, at about 6:30am, armed men numbering more than one hundred stormed the Assembly quarters which houses mainly the APC lawmakers, singing wars songs and screaming PDP!PDP!
They went to the homes of some key lawmakers such as the Majority Leader of the House, Philip Shaibu, Bright Osayande, Folly Ogedegbe, Sunny Aghedo and Bamidele Oloruntoba (Akoko Edo constituency 2). Unfortunately for the invaders, they could not find the lawmakers in their homes. They shot sporadically turning the entire Ihama Road to a war zone.
A lawmaker, Oloruntoba, who told Vanguard that the incident happened at about 6:30am, asserted that the entire episode reminded him of the activities of ISIS in Iraq. Narrating the incident to Vanguard, the lawmaker representing Akoko Edo constituency 2, Oloruntoba said, “my mum came around and I planned to travel to my constituency. I woke up and had my morning prayers then decided to come out to clean my car.
Vehicles destroyed by the hoodlums at the Edo Legislative Quarters
Immediately I came out, I heard a loud noise at the gate and saw morre than one hundred boys with AK47 and different types of guns entering the compound. They were screaming PDP, PDP. One of them saw me and screamed, get him, he is one of them. So I took off immediately leaving my aged mother inside the house and my family. They shot at me immediately but I was lucky to escape.
That was why they started shooting all the cars in the compound and destroying doors and windows. I ran towards the Speaker’s lodge and informed him that armed men were in the compound and they were so many.
I told him to instruct his security men to return fire else we are gone. And that was how they started returning fire while the Speaker was making calls to the Commissioner of Police and other people. The shooting went on for more than 40 minutes and what was shocking was that throughout that incident, the police never showed up to help us.”
The Majority Leader Shaibu was their key target, because he was accused of beating up the PDP lawmaker, Rasaq Momoh, penultimate week. Shaibu and his family escaped death through the perimeter fence but, however, sustained serious injuries.
Shaibu who spoke to Vanguard shortly before he was rushed to hospital with his wife and son, said, “we heard they (PDP) held a meeting to come and attack us but we did not know that they will be this wicked and callous. Immediately I heard the gun shot I took my son through the back to jump the fence with my wife. While trying to take the son outside the fence one of the boys attacked me with a knife.
“My son fell from the fence and I had to struggle to defend myself. I had to use everything at my disposal to fight and luckily for me the guy fled and that was how I sustained injuries. I was shocked that the policemen detained to the quarters were withdrawn this morning while security was beefed up at the residence of Chief Dan Orbih the PDP chairman and other PDP leaders.
What these people did was to frame up Rasaq and get people to beat him up so that it will seen as if we were the ones that did it to enable them execute this plot. The PDP has been singing my name that I masterminded the beating of Momoh which is not true because I was not even there.
Scaling of the perimeter fence
“If I had seen Rasaq I would have told him that his PDP people set him up so as to achieve this invasion and he should hold them responsible.” It would be recalled that Rasaq Momoh was an APC lawmaker before he defected to the PDP with four others. But sometime in July, the House declared his seat vacant which barred him from entering the Assembly quarters. Penultimate Tuesday, it was learnt that he came to the Assembly quarters but was refused entrance by the security men and other lawmakers around.
He decided to scale the perimeter fence after which he was beaten up by some boys within the premises. Until now he is still receiving treatment at the hospital. The PDP accused the APC of masterminding the attack on Momoh which the APC described as arrant nonsense.
Tension heightened last Friday when President Goodluck Jonathan visited the State for the foundation laying of a $1 billion (about N165 billion) Azura Gas-powered Independent Power Project in Benin City.
The thugs loyal to PDP physically assaulted some senior officials of the Edo State Government including Secretary to the State Government, Prof Julius Ihonvbere, Chief of Staff to the Governor, Hon Patrick Obahiagbon, Edo State Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Hon Anselm Ojezua and some civil commissioners.
Carrying placards with various inscriptions including placards of some PDP aspirants, the thugs disrupted activities at the Airport for several minutes as a combined team of soldiers and Policemen had a hectic time controlling them. It was the next day Saturday, that they proceeded to the House of Assembly quarters for the mayhem.
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Edo State legislative attack: Lawmakers narrate ordeal
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