 Welcome once again to Plus Politics. The Edo State House of Assembly is made up of 24 member seats but of the 24 seats 14 were declared vacant while only 10 hold plenary. The crisis started when 12 members of the Assembly were inaugurated while 12 shone the inauguration exercise a legend that it was not properly convened. Joining us to discuss this is a political analyst Nusa Agatise and a member of the Federal House of Representatives Ben Ibakba. Thank you both for joining us. Thank you. Alright, I'm going to start with Mr Ibakba, you're a member of the House of Reps for Edo State. Thank you very much. Quickly share with us. A lot of people have described the current situation in Edo State as completely undemocratic. I want you to share your thoughts on the crisis in Edo State in the House of Assembly and how we found a state that currently is having just 10 people holding plenary. Yes, thank you very much. You know the proclamation by the Governor which is a prerequisite for membership of the State House of Assembly and the President in the case of the National Assembly is a constitutional matter and it's under section 105 so section 3 and the constitution is very clear as to the functions and what the Governor is supposed to do with the Governor did. There are some lacuna, there are some areas that are big which I know any Governor that have some sinister motive will want to explore that need some level of amendment and I'm working on that so for the members elect that according to them they were not informed of when the proclamation was made, proclamation was supposed to be published and from what we had it was published and some persons happen not to know. For me that's not illegal about it, it is those ones that are valuable that is counted. You cannot count people that have not been duly inaugurated into the House, but they were members elect and until you are sworn in, until you take the vote of allegiance to the Constitution, vote of secrecy and submit your code of conduct, what is your CCP, the code of conduct of the reform for asset declaration, you are not a bona fide member and so long as those constitutional requirements have not been fulfilled, they are not known to the House and to the law, they are supposed to, until they come take vote of office that is when they are members and so for now there are 10 members in the House and whatever they do to turn the majority, surely so if you are going to have to turn the majority into that is quite legal. Okay, you are a member of the House of Reps and so I'm guessing that you understand to a very high extent the importance of representation for people. In those states with 10 members in the House of Assembly, doesn't that leave a large number of people of the electorate in those states without proper representation and how do you think this affects governance in the state? You know again I quite agree with you that people are being denied of representation but it is not the fault of the executives, it is the fault of the members that were elected. You see after election it is governance and it is sad that my dear colleagues contested election and after winning election they were still playing politics. After election the next thing to go into is governance, they are decimated, they are responsible, they are people that are supposed to be in government and they went into politics and that is the cause of where they are today and their post-situations. So I think this will tell the institution a very, very sad lesson that after election they should be talking about governance as far as I'm concerned whether executive or the legislature is supposed to be complimentary, not competitive and they turn out to be people that are in competition and see the election is still waiting and this is the result. So really there's nothing wrong, the members that are in the house are just 10 and to tell you that 10 will always carry the day. There's nothing that says that members must be 24 or 29 before they can take action. So it simply looks like a political gamble gone wrong. There's those who have also mentioned the influence of God for their ism that maybe would have created the space for this gamble that has eventually gone wrong for some of them. That is it. Let's now talk about because it's been two years. So now let's talk about the possibilities of fixing this challenge. Is there still hope that fences could be mended and these 14 can be brought back to the house? Well, constitutionally I don't think there's any hope but if they decide to go on the side of political resolution and settlement that something could be done, but if you're looking at the laws, so long as their fees have been declared vacant, there's nobody occupying that seat, nobody's there anymore, but if they decide to go the political solution, it may be, but again some other person can pick it up and expose the illegality that will follow because as it is, they are no longer members of the house. Their seats have been declared vacant. They have stayed away for too long and they have not taken out of office. They were never recognized. So I'm even surprised that the speaker has to go to the extent of declaring their seats. So there were no seats. Nobody was, those seats were vacant ab initio. There was nobody occupying those seats. So the speaker, I think it's just a waste of time for the speaker to even go ahead and say they are declaring seats vacant because there was nobody occupying those seats because nobody took out of office for those constituencies. Nobody submitted their code of conduct after declaration forms. Nobody took out of Malaysia. There's nothing. There was nobody there. It's like a vacuum where nobody was occupying. So talking about going legal and constitutional, there's no remedy. But politically, yes, they could do something and that again depends on nobody going and trying to expose the illegality. All right, and do you think that Godwin or Basaki will still be open to maybe having a conversation concerning a political resolution? Well, politicians are the most flexible people in this world. He's a leader and I know if he has his way, he will want to do something because of the constituents, because of the people back home. But actually, notice that they are lacking representation and the people voted for him massively. He's not doing it. Whatever decision he's trying to take, trying to see what he can do, maybe meander the way it is, the dirty water and find a solution. Because as I call him, he's the father of the state and he won his election much convincingly. We want to consider the people and see what he can do. If I were in his shoes, I would throw that line and be a father that we should accommodate everybody. Well, not a very interesting picture. Can you also quickly share, just before you go in 30 seconds about, well, the former governor, Adam Soshomale, who is currently no longer in the picture, are there roles that he may also be expected to play here to find a way to heal these wounds in those state politics? Well, I didn't get that question, it was a little holly. I'm asking about the former governor, Adam Soshomale, do you think that there might be a little role that he can play here to heal the wounds in those state politics? Yes, yes. Definitely, Comrade Soshomale, he has a very big role to play. Elections have been won and lost, and it is God that gives power. And I know the governor will want to also do the part of peace, not because, like I keep saying, not because of the representatives, it is because of the people that they are representing. And because of the love the people have shown to him. I think he should think about it, but God Soshomale has a lot to do. Soshomale Abateke is his boy. That's what I think they are all men, but one is older than one and one happened to be the boss of the other one. Sorry to use the word boy, but whether you like it or not, if somebody they work together, it was his appointee. Despite that he worked without salary, I think he will still listen to him and other adult politicians should come together and heal that, because that is one area that need to be healed, they need to be cleaned so that the entire state can move in one stroke areas where you have a political affiliation. Ben Ibakpa, thank you so much for your time this evening. And of course with other ad-dose state conversations, we would like to also bring you in. Have a great evening. Thank you. Thank you. All right, still a sports politics. We'll take a short break now and when we return, I'll be given my take. And here is my take. The essence of the House of Assembly, both at the state and national level for representation of the interest of the electorate, they speak for them, they convey their concerns to the executive and of course create laws and policies to better the lives of the electorate. The Nigerian society and political space as over time, it made the act of representation almost irrelevant. You can see with the way state governors handle local government positions and allocations. You can also see it in the process through which state House of Assembly members are elected. It almost feels like government doesn't care about the need for proper representation when politics is being played. In the absence of these persons, how does a government properly understand and cater for the basic needs of the electorate in every community? How does the government make laws that improve on the living standards of every person in every community when they're not properly represented in the House of Assembly? Let's also not forget the likely role that God for their ism and personal political interest has also played out in a those state in the situation we're discussing this evening. Some people have abandoned the call to serve and instead changed their own personal political interest. We must do better, we must demand better and we must vote better. And that's all we have for you on Plans Politics This Evening. Thanks for joining us. I am Osau Gie, Oguawa. Good night.