The crisis rocking the Ondo State House of Assembly got messier on Saturday as the speaker Rt Hon. Olamide Oladiji, accused some of his colleagues of plotting to frustrate Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa in deliverimg democratic dividends to the people.
He levelled the allegation thus widening the cracks in the house which has already broken into two factions, one of which, comprising 12 members, is vociferously pushing for the speaker’s impeachment over some allegations.
On the other hand is another group of 14 lawmakers who are loyal to the speaker and said to be actively participating in legislative activities. Remarkably however, both camps of the 26-member assembly belong to the same All Progressives Congress, the ruling party in the state.
The speaker’s accusation landed amid social media reports indicating that the aggrieved lawmakers had begun moves to alter the Assembly’s leadership structure, including the removal of the Speaker, after allegedly passing a vote of no confidence in him over allegations of gross misconduct.
Omidiji told reporters in Akure on Saturday, that the dissenting lawmakers were deliberately attempting to destabilise government operations.
He maintained however that he had continued to run the Assembly strictly in line with its Rules and Standing Orders.
His words, “We have a Standing Order in the House of Assembly, including how we relate with the executive. These honourable members who claim to have passed a vote of no confidence in me have not been attending sittings. As I speak, the majority of them are outside the country.
“They said they have some demands or requests from His Excellency, the governor. But our position is that even if we have requests, we should not tie them to our legislative assignments, such as the supplementary or re-ordered budget.
“They insisted that they wanted to use the passage of the re-ordered budget to drive home their demands. But the 14 of us told them that we are part of this government, and whatever we need should be done maturely, not by frustrating government activities.”
Besides, he said the Assembly proceeded with the reordering of the budget at its last plenary and maintained that the group of 14 lawmakers had the support of Governor Aiyedatiwa.
Oladiji said, “We are strongly together, and we have the backing of His Excellency because what we are doing is in the interest of the state.”
He appealed to the aggrieved legislators to return to the chamber and resume their constitutional duties.
