The Speaker of Edo House of Assembly, Francis Okiye, on Tuesday said there was nothing unusual aboutthe lawmakers backing the candidates of their choice for the Sept. 19 governorship poll in the state.
Okiye was reacting to the Monday endorsement of the All Progressive Congress (APC), Osgie Ize-Iyamu, by the Deputy Speaker, Yekini Idiaye, and two other members of the house.
The speaker in a statement he signed and made available to newsmen in Benin said: “It is imperative to state the actual position of things in Edo House of Assembly right now.
“It is not unusual for legislators and indeed politicians to engage in political re-alignments in this part of democracy like in Nigeria.
“That the Deputy Speaker and 2 other lawmakers chose to support the APC governorship candidate, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu, is within their constitutional right,” he said.
According the speaker, the lawmakers said they merely declined moving to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and chose to to work for the candidate of their party, the APC.
Okiye stated that the three lawmakers still remained members and part of the 10 lawmakers in the Edo house of assembly.
The News Agency of Nigeria recalls that the house had declared vacant, the seats of the 14 members of the house who were not sworn in, following the crisis that had bedeviled the house for years.