Tony Osauzo, Benin
Edo State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC), has described the expulsion of the Deputy Chief Whip of the House of Representatives, Mr. Pally Iriase, as a nullity.
The state’s vice chairman of the party in Edo North, Chief Sunny Okomayin, who stated this while fielding questions from journalists in Benin, yesterday, said Iriase, a member of the National Executive Committee, is a respected leader of the party, at the state and national level, and remains a bonafide member of the party.
According to him, the purported expulsion of the lawmaker was the handiwork of mischief makers, who probably had personal issues with the “respected leader,” and that the actors failed to consult with the state party’s secretariat, if at all, party rules had been breached by the lawmaker.
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He stressed that neither the ward nor local government chapter of the party had no right to expel a NEC member, and also, pointed out that those responsible for the alleged expulsion would be sanctioned.
“We were quite surprised by the action of the persons responsible for this alleged expulsion of not only a respected leader of the party, but also, a principal officer of the House of Representatives.
“We have rules guiding every action of members. If at all Iriase has breached any of the rules, it is only the national leadership of the party that can take disciplinary action against him. Not these people.
“If not for mischief-making, why wasn’t I, the senatorial vice chairman of the party, consulted on this?
“As I speak, an emergency leadership meeting of the state chapter of the party has been called over this matter,” Okomayin said.
On Monday, Iriase’s ward in Owan East Local Government Area, issued a statement where his expulsion from the APC, over alleged anti-party activities was announced.
The expulsion, which was ratified by the local government chapter of the party, was contained in a letter signed by the chairman and the secretary of the party in Owan East Local Government, Zuberu Shabah and Theophilus Aigboje, respectively.