Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State has said that he had no power to bring back 14 House of Assembly-elects yet to be inaugurated.
Obaseki stated this in an interview with newsmen when he paid a thank-you visit to the National Working Committee (NWC), of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), in Abuja on Monday.
He also visited former Vice President Atiku Abubakar.
Obaseki said that 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 State. 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 his deputy, Philip Shaibu and other PDP leaders from Edo including former Minister of Works, Mike Onolememen, and former Minister of External Affairs, Chief Tom Ikimi.
