EBONYI State House of Assembly, on Monday, declared the seat of the embattled Deputy Speaker of the House, Odefa Odefa, vacant.
Odefa’s seat was declared vacant following his alleged resignation as a member of the House of Assembly.
Mr Kingsley Ikoro, representing Afikpo North/West constituency, was nominated and inugurated as the new deputy speaker.
Mr Oliver Osi, representing Ivo State Constituency and Mrs Ngozi Ezilo representing Afikpo North/East constituency, were said to have defected from the Peoples Democratic Party to the All Progressives Congress during the plenary after a letter purportedly written by the two of them was read on the floor.
According to the Speaker, Francis Nwifuru, the two lawmakers also resigned their membership of the assembly.
But in his reaction, Odefa, who insisted that he remained the deputy speaker, described the action of the house as “monkey child’s play.”
He said, “Why will I resign? It’s a monkey child’s place. It is only going to be by a recall. I have not participated in any congress organized by the APC. I didn’t resign.
“I do not belong to the APC. If you represent your people, it’s your people that will decide. No man is God. The house realised that they do not have a two-third majority to effect my impeachment and that’s why they alleged that I resigned. That’s what happened. Why will I resign? Is it that I am mentally deranged?
“Did INEC give any other member a certificate of return? It is now a legal issue. They plan to kill me. They are planning bloodshed. They cannot kill me because they didn’t create me. I chose to be in the PDP”
“I have been threatened that I will be kidnapped. Everything has to be by the law. Nobody’s life is worth any political position. They lacked the power to forge a letter and read it on the floor of the house.
“I remained the Deputy Speaker of the Ebonyi Assembly. I have written to security agencies over the threat I received after the news of my press conference went viral,” he added.
Osi and Ezilo also refuted the claims by the House, stressing that they never resigned from the PDP and the assembly.
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