The Ekiti State House of Assembly has been enmeshed in crisis as some members of the Assembly, on Thursday morning, announced that they have impeached their Speaker, Kola Oluwawole, and his deputy, Mr Sina Animasaun, and also suspended them.
The members, led by Chief Gboyega Aribisogan, told newsmen in Ado Ekiti that nine other members of the assembly, namely Dr Samuel Omotoso, Wale Onigiobi, Wale Ayeni, Dare Pelemo, Samuel Jeje, Dayo Akinleye, Ayodele Fajemilehin, Temitope Fasanmi, Tunji Akinyele and Sanya Aladeyelu have also been suspended.
The said they were all suspended for 125 legislative days.
Aribisogan, who said the decisions were taken at a plenary, also announced that Ebenezer Adeniran Alagbada, from Ise/Orun constituency, had been appointed as the new Speaker of the House while a former deputy speaker, Segun Adewumi, had been reinstated to the position.
Aribisogan also said he had been elected the new Leader of Business of the House of Assembly while some other members had been appointed into other offices, and also announced that “appointment committee” would be set up to look into other offices.
The 11 lawmakers that addressed newsmen on Thursday comprised of three APC members and eight PDP lawmakers, with Aribisogan explaining that there were 14 of them in all and that three members had needed to leave for some other assignments.
At the sitting, Sunday Akinniyi of the APC extraction was elected Minority Leader; Fajana Ojo-Ade; Deputy Leader; Cecilia Dada, Chief Whip, and Musa Arogundade, Deputy Chief Whip.
Aribisogan claimed that Oluwawole and other PDP lawmakers were suspended over alleged complicity in the disappearance of N60 million in the House.
He also claimed that the Speaker was impeached for alleged ineptitude, saying they allegedly allowed “the reputation of the Assembly to be destroyed by the governor with their attitudes.”
In his acceptance speech, Alagbada explained that what happened was “nothing extraordinary” because something similar happened four years ago.
Alagbada said: “The fourth Assembly changed its leadership in 2014 where some members of APC decamped to PDP to facilitate the smooth take-off of the administration of Chief Peter Ayodele Fayose.”
He said Ekiti was “yearning for purposeful legislature that would be truly committed and independent to discharge its constitutional responsibilities.”
But Oluwawole, in reaction described his impeachment as “a rape of democracy and an a descent to lowest level of lawlessness and illegality.”
He said they didn’t have the required numbers to do what they did, claiming that they engaged thugs and employed security agents to prevent some members of the Assembly from gantry entry to the premises.
He said: “This is bizarre! In a democracy? This is the height of illegality and it can never stand. As the Speaker of the House, I supervised over the last adjournment of the House, which was carried out according to laws and laid down rules.
“I retain the power to reconvene the House and i have not done that yet. How then can some people say the House sat? This is totally illegal. The role of the police in this siege is clear. It was enemies of democracy that purported the House sat. Ekiti State House of Assembly has not been reconvened by its speaker.”
Also reacting to the development, Governor Ayodele Fayose said he would not join in the issues in the House, saying “it is Ekiti State House of Assembly, not Fayose House of Assembly and I won’t dabble into Assembly affairs.”
Earlier in a statement the outgoing governor decried the role of security agencies in the crisis, saying he condemned the role of the security in the impeachment of Ekiti State Speaker.
While describing it as, “regrettable,” Fayose said he had done his best to reposition the state and he would leave the office in few days time.
Fayose urged all the stakeholders particularly the legislative arm of the government to put the interest of Ekiti first, saying “above all, with Kola Oluwawole or Ebenezer Alagbada as speaker, I enjoin them to cooperate with the incoming administration in the overall interest of our people.”
Sources told the Nigerian Tribune in Ado Ekiti that the lawmakers had been in the Assembly early, and that they were allegedly aided by security agents to secure the premises and prevented people from going in, including the workers, until they had finished their business.
and then