Kabiru Adjoto, the newly-elected Speaker of the Edo State House of Assembly, says Justin Okonoboh, his predecessor, was impeached because he “desecrated” the assembly by making his wife the “25th member” of the assembly.

Adjoto told journalists shortly after he was sworn in that Okonboh ran the assembly like a private business and usually adjourned sittings for some personal family issues.

“We discovered that for selfish reasons, the ex-Speaker would adjourn the House, possibly, because the wife is doing a birthday or the son is having a graduation at Covenant University or the son is going to an NYSC camp [and] he [Okonoboh] wants to do a party for him,” he said.

“Between June and July, we have worked for just three weeks; he adjourned the House for more than six weeks.

“Today is August 14 [but] we are just resuming. Then, the House is expected to adjourn again next week for another four weeks for the normal holiday. Is that a normal parliament? All of us came together and said, ‘Enough is enough’.

“The institution is more deserving to be protected than the interest of an individual.

“The ex-Speaker’s wife, like I said earlier, has turned herself into the 25th member of the House of Assembly to the extent that anything we discussed in the executive session, the wife will hear and start calling our wives to tell them what was discussed.

“The wife uses the [Speaker’s] convoy as if she is Mr. Speaker and at random. The other day, the wife and the son used the convoy to the NYSC camp. When the soldiers and policemen there saw that it was coming, they all stood, hoping that they would see Mr. Speaker, only to see the wife and the son to come out of the vehicle. That is a desecration of the Parliament.”

Okonoboh became Speaker in June 2016 after Victor Edoror, his predecessor, was impeached under similar circumstances.