Edo cult war: Edo Reps member accuses state govt of witch-hunt over house marked for demolition

Marcus Onobun, member representing Esan West/Esan Central/Igueben Constituency in the House of Representatives, whose house has been marked for demolition for alleged cult related activities, has cried out that he was bring targeted by the Edo state government.

He stated this while appearing on AIT programme, Democracy Today on Tuesday night.

He said because he belongs to the opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP in the state , the government was hiding under the anti-cultism law to demolish his house in an attempt to coerce him to defect to the All Progressives Congress, APC.

Onobun, who is a former Speaker of the State House of Assembly, was alleged to have covened a meeting of cultists in his residence located at Iruekpen, Esan West Local Government Area of the State.

It was reliably gathered that officials of the state government marked the legislator’s house for demolition Tuesday morning.

He has however denied the allegation, including links to the clashes.

Onobun who described the action of the state government as being politically-motivated and illegal, challenged the government to provide proof of the allegations.

He recalled how the hotel of PDP guber campaign Director-General, Matthew Iduoriyekemwen was marked for demolition, in addition to the residence of another party leader, Chief Francis Inegbineki.

“These allegations are not only false and unfounded, but they also appear to be politically motivated to tarnish my hard-earned reputation.

“Let it be on record that from reliable sources, I am informed that the clash arose between two indigenes of Iruekpen community at a brothel within the cattle market and not anywhere close to my residence,” he stated.

“Nobody wrote me officially, no investigation, no court pronouncement. What we are seeing in Edo State is a law that is clearly targeted at the opposition members.

“I saw in the social media an unsigned circular that my house was used for cult activities, I responded quickly by debunking the claims only to find out this morning (Tuesday) the house had been marked for demolition.

“If you feel I have what you don’t have in your party, and you want my support, you should be able to persuade me,” he said.

He asserted that the law has good intentions – to curb criminal activities in the state – but turning it into tool for coercion and repression is unfortunate.

“I don’t have problem with the law because we all know the insecurity plaguing the state but now the same law has become tool for coercion and repression”, he stated.

He noted that before the law could be applied, a person must have been investigated and convicted by the law court. This he said non has been done in his case.

He said he last visited his community in April because of his health challenges and that his uncle is in charge of the house.

He stated further: “This is the same house I’m being accused of harbouring cultists and having meetings with them.”