The Edo State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) says it has no control over the activities of the Nigeria Police.
The party made the remark in reaction to the allegations that its leadership in the state had a hand in invasion of the Edo Assembly Complex on Thursday morning.
Chairman, Edo State APC Media Campaign Council, John Mayaki, in a statement made available to newsmen in Benin City, accused Edo State government of carrying out several onslaughts against the constitutional independence of the legislative arm of government by attacking its members-elect and denying them representation.
While noting that the APC, as a political party, does not control the police, he insisted that the state governor was in the best position to tell the world who was behind the police blockade on the Assembly.
It alleged that Governor Godwin Obaseki has treated the House of Assembly, an independent and co-equal branch of government, as a mere extension of his office through the brutalisation of members-elect and the denial of representation to the majority of members.
He also claimed the governor hijacked a tiny minority and purportedly inaugurated them in the dead of the night.
“The sham inauguration was condemned and set aside by both arms of the National Assembly after their separate investigations revealed that the members, and indeed the Clerk, were forced to participate in the illegality under threat to life.
“With all these going on at the Assembly Complex, it is Mr. Godwin Obaseki who is in the best position to explain to the world what is going on and why,” he said.
He said the state government should explain to the world and Edo people what is going on.
“And they can start by explaining why a arm of government meant to carry out oversight functions and check the excesses of the executive arm has been holding plenary inside the Government House for months over a supposed ‘fumigation and renovation exercise’ at the Assembly Complex,” he said.
