Ondo assembly: Akeredolu, APC move to resolve crisis

Politics
  • Oleyelogun assures peace

By Banji Ayoola

Moves are on to reconcile aggrieved members of the Ondo State House of Assembly, which slipped into a crisis last Friday with the purported impeachment of the speaker, Rt. Hon Bamidele Oleyelogun and his deputy, Hon Ogundeji Iroju.

Confirming the moves in an interview with The Radiance on Tuesday in his office at the House of Assembly Complex, Oleyelogun said that Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, SAN, his deputy, Hon Agboola Ajayi, State APC Chairman, Engnr Ade Adetimehin and notable party leaders are working “to make sure that there is settlement as early as possible.”

His words: “The Chairman of the party has called them. The Deputy Governor is working. Mr. Governor has done a lot. Efforts are on to make sure that there is settlement as soon as possible.

“And I want to embrace peace. I agree with all the moves and also I have moved through some elders and leaders from their constituencies to talk to them so that we can resolve as early as possible.”

He said:  “I have called them to ask them to let us come together as one. We are honourable members. We don’t need to fight unnecessarily. But if they start claiming the authority of that impeachment, it can lead to litigation.

“That is why I ask them, please come let us settle. Come back home. You cannot be Lagosians and say you are operating in Ondo State.

He assured the people of the state that normalcy would soon return, saying: “This is to tell our people that we are all honourable members and we still count on their support.

“It is to authoritatively tell them that there will be peace in the Ondo State House of Assembly very soon. They should be calm. There is no problem within us. It is part of the exercise that is carried out by legislators. But it (impeachment) has to be legal and authentic.”

Insisting that last Friday’s purported impeachment was neither legal nor authentic, he said: “It is null and void. There was no impeachment carried out in the Ondo State House of Assembly.”

In his words: “The symbol of the House of Assembly, the Mace, constructed years back during the administration of Baba Ajasin, is still intact. Then there is no how you impeach the speaker or deputy speaker.

“There is a book in the House of Assembly, the Oath of Allegiance book. It is not signed by them. No Oath, no Mace, no order papers and so on and so forth. It shows that all what they claimed to have done, are null and void.

“Then they claimed that they have 18 members on their side. And our law says that before you can impeach the speaker or deputy speaker, there should be two thirds majority, and the two thirds majority of the House of Assembly here is 18 members who have to be present on the floor before you can impeach.

“Besides this, there is an act of fraud and forgery. Two members purported to be members of the impeachment group claimed on the floor of the House of Assembly that they are not part and parcel of the impeachment. Hon Sunday Olajide and Hon Olusola Oluyede said that they forged their signatures. So there is no impeachment in the Ondo State House of Assembly.

“Since then, the House of Assembly has been working. The session is on. A lot of bills have been processed. Yesterday, (Monday) we were here sitting; and I conveniently tell you that we are on.

“There was a bill on reordering of the budget. It is now at the committee stage. Work is going on here.”

On the purported impeachment of last Friday, he said: “Authoritatively, I can tell you that nothing has happened in the Ondo State House of Assembly.

“It was some of our members. They said they are aggrieved for one reason or the other best known to them. They brought thugs to invade the House of Assembly, breaking into the hallowed chamber; and they said they wanted to impeach the speaker and deputy speaker.

“They brought a paper and they forcefully asked Mr. Clerk to go inside the hallowed chamber. Mr. Clerk was seated at the visitors’ seating side. Now the copy of the paper given to him stipulated that they wanted to impeach the deputy speaker.

“Without order, without the Mace, without all staff of the assembly, nothing could be done, or there could be no seating of the House of Assembly. That was the story.

“I came in just to check round the House of Assembly and they, my colleagues started beating me. They tore my clothes. What is happening? They said they wanted to impeach. Impeach who?  What are my offences? And they could not substantiate anything.

“That was how I came to my office here. They had already broken into my office. Look at my drawer. They damaged it and a lot of valuable materials were taken away by their thugs.

“Even the vehicle of Hon Abayomi Akinruntan was vandalised. The glasses, windscreens were broken. That is what has happened.”

Oleyelogun denied knowledge of the claim that the crisis was a fallout of the rancorous party primaries where all the aggrieved APC legislators in the House were denied the party’s return ticket, whereas only seven APC legislators including the speaker, his deputy and five others with him, were given the party’s ticket to seek reelection.

He said: “I am not the party chairman. I am not the governor of the state. Mine is that the people who voted for me here also voted for me during the primary that I should come back again for the third term.

“Their own constituencies are peculiar to them and I cannot determine what happens there, and why they failed to give them the ticket. I don’t know what happened.”

He also debunked the alleged financial impropriety, which among other allegations formed the basis of the purported impeachment, saying: “There is nothing like that. At least, if you have a financial problem with one another, they suppose to document it and bring evidence. There is nothing like that. We have been together for the past years. It is just a false claim that cannot be substantiated.”

The Radiance recalls that Hon Olamide George who was elected speaker after Oleyelogun’s purported impeachment, had at a press conference in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, on Saturday, alleged that “It is an open secret that N1.3bn was approved and released for the 2018 budget of the assembly. The former speaker and deputy speaker jointly expended over a billion in the first quarter of 2018 without approval.

“This is the height of corruption. We cannot condone it. It is unacceptable to the people of Ondo whom we are representing and that’s why we chose the path of honour to partner with Buhari to flush corruption out of Ondo.”

But Oleyelogun told The Radiance: “Everything is calm. Ondo State is peaceful. The governor is trying his best to make sure that the state is at peace.”

His words: “I want to confirm to you that I am the legitimate, legal speaker of the Ondo State House of Assembly who was voted in by my constituency, and when I got here I was duly elected and I have been performing my duties as expected in moving Ondo State forward.

“We have passed a lot of bills.  That has never happened in the history of Ondo State.”

The impeachment

Speaking with journalists in Akure on Friday last week, the chairman House Committee on Information, Hon Fatai Olotu, said the removal of the speaker was done in good faith and in the interest of the state.

He had said: “The two- third of the members of the Ondo State House of Assembly today removed the speaker and his deputy over their incompetence to run the affairs of the house.

“I want you to know that changing leadership is an inherent right of members of the house. The two officials have shown great incompetence in running the affairs of the house.

“They ran the house aground financially and committed a lot of financial impropriety that members can no longer condone.

“As at June this year, they have exhausted all the budgetary allocation for the house which runs to the tune of N1.5 billion without the knowledge of the House of Assembly.”

Olotu had said the removal of the two principal officers would not affect the relationship between lawmakers and the executive.

He denied plans to impeach the state governor, Rotimi Akeredolu, saying “the governor has not committed any impeachable offence and there was no justification for us to impeach the governor.”

The lawmakers also suspended the sacked speaker, his deputy and two other members

Faction flees to Ibadan, claiming threat to their lives

The Radiance recalls that meanwhile, the Hon Olamide George’s faction, which carried out the impeachment has relocated to Ibadan, Oyo State capital, citing threats to their lives

George, who was elected speaker, after  Oleyelogun was removed on Friday, addressed the media in Ibadan on Saturday, claiming that their lives were no longer safe after they were allegedly attacked by thugs allegedly masterminded by the leadership of the All Progressives Congress in the state.

They also claimed to have received death threats, as well as their families and called on President Muhammadu Buhari to intervene and save them from being killed.

George, alongside 14 other lawmakers, had addressed a news conference in Ibadan on Saturday evening.

He had said that Oleyelogun and his deputy were impeached over established evidences of alleged gross misconduct, financial recklessness, abuse of power and incompetence leveled against them.

He alleged that since Friday, family members, he and his deputy were being threatened over the impeachment, calling on the president to save democracy from collapse.

“We are duly elected members of the state assembly, acting within the confines of the constitutional duties at plenary.

“Surprisingly, the impeached speaker led to the assembly, Mr Gbenga Adeyanju, the State Commissioner of Police, Mr Ade Adetimehin, State APC Chairman, Mr Jacob Adebo, State Chairman, NURTW, about 50 heavily armed officers and thugs.

“They invaded the assembly and assaulted honourable members, assembly staff, journalists and visitors to the assembly complex,” he said.

George said there were video and pictorial documentations of the alleged vandalization of cars and properties worth several millions of naira by thugs.

According to him, “It is an open secret that N1.3bn was approved and released for the 2018 budget of the assembly. The former speaker and deputy speaker jointly expended over a billion in the first quarter of 2018 without approval.

“This is the height of corruption. We cannot condone it. It is unacceptable to the people of Ondo whom we are representing and that’s why we chose the path of honour to partner with Buhari to flush corruption out of Ondo,”he added.

Abimbola, the who was elected deputy speaker, corroborated George’s claims and said the impeachment was carried out in line with the constitutional provision which stipulated that such exercise could only be carried out by two-third of the members.

He said 18 out of the 26 lawmakers, which represented two-thirds carried out the impeachment, saying he has the 18 names and signatures of members who impeached them.

“The impeachment was in order. We have removed the inefficient speaker and deputy speaker from office and this act is completely irreversible,” he said.

A former speaker of the assembly, Olajumoke Akindele, who was allegedly assaulted in the mayhem unleashed at the assembly, called on the president and his wife, Aisha Buhari, to protect women in politics from molestation, intimidation and harassment which was meted to her on Friday.

“My family members, my colleagues and my dear life is no longer safe. I have been marked for assassination for standing against corruption,” she said.

Meanwhile, Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, SAN, has denied alleged involvement in the crisis.

Although fingers were pointed in the direction of the governor and the leadership of the All Progressives Congress in the state, both of them have denied that they had anything to do with either the removal or the reprisal attacks by thugs on the lawmakers.

Oleyelogun was elected in a similar circumstance at the dawn of the Akeredolu administration.

Hon Jumoke Akindele, of the PDP, who was earlier removed as speaker to pave the way for Oleyelogun, midwifed the process of electing the new leadership presiding over the session as acting speaker.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *