Impeached Edo Speaker suspended

The impeached Speaker of the Edo State House of Assembly, Francis Okiye, has been suspended for three months to allow for a peaceful transition.

He was impeached on Monday over alleged highhandedness and misappropriation of funds.

Okiye was impeached exactly a month to the inauguration of Governor Godwin Obaseki and his deputy, Philip Shaibu, for a second term.

The ex-Speaker, a loyalist of Obaseki of the Peoples Democratic Party, was impeached by nine of the 10 formally-inaugurated members of the Edo State House of Assembly during a plenary session, which lasted for some minutes.

It was gathered that Okiye would have been impeached last week but for the intervention of Obaseki.