FOLLOWING last Friday’s crisis at the Ondo State House of Assembly due to the impeachment of the Speaker and Deputy, Bamidele Oloyelogun and Ogundeji Iroju and the subsequent election of another speaker; Olamide George and deputy, Faloju Abimbola, the 18 speakers on Monday condemned the alleged continual interference of the governor, Rotimi Akeredolu in assembly matters and continuous attack on members.
The lawmakers led by the new speaker, Olamide George, stated that they should be allowed do their legislative work as laid down by law, adding that they are committed to ensuring that the reason for which they were elected is satisfied.
George who led the assembled members except seven; five that are still hospitalised and two that were just discharged from the clinic, stated on Monday in Ibadan that, “the governor should allow us to do our legislative activities, we want it on record that we will not allow every anti-people policy to scale through in Ondo State.
“We appeal to the governor of Ondo State, he is a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), he should respect the rule of law, he is a SAN who should understand what democracy entails, he voted by the people and won on the interest of people of Ondo state, he should demonstrate what we call the right thinking in allowing the will of the majority to prevail in Ondo State. The governor should know that this fight is not about him but about the right thing being done. This is not an attack on the governor. They should allow us to run the affairs of the house.
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“We call on President Muhammadu Buhari again to save our life, we appeal that the government to step into this, the people are not happy and we cannot go back to the era where we cannot sleep with our two eyes closed and we can’t be comfortable in our homes, Ondo people are known for peace,” George stated.
Reiterating their call, Araoyinbo Olugbenga Joseph, majority leader of the Assembly said, “I want to reiterate that the impeachment of erstwhile speaker and deputy speaker, Oleyeloogun, Iroju Ogundeji and consequent suspension carried out on Friday on the floor of the Ondo State House of Assembly remains legal, they have been impeached and there are no two ways about it. We are tired of the way they run our affairs and we have elected a new speaker and deputy speaker based on the provisions of law.
“We are saying that the erstwhile speaker is not competent to direct the affairs of the Assembly. We are not given the respect and autonomy the institution requires. We are not an appendage of the executive and we will continue to defend the mandate given to us by our people. There is no reason for the governor to support the minority against the majority or interfere in the affairs of the assembly,” he said.
The lawmakers described as laughable, the fact that the minority sat on Monday at the Assembly after being impeached and suspended, condemning continuous attacks and invasion of the Assembly. “We will not allow an attack on our members continue in Ondo State, we are calling on the Inspector General of Police, to act fast and save lives and property. It will be recalled that I was seriously attacked, shot at and my vehicle destroyed by the Nigerian Union of Road Transport Workers, we have admissible pieces of evidence of such acts both video and pictorial evidence to show to the world what they have done to us in Ondo State.
“An attack was also made yesterday, my gateman was seriously beaten and shots fired at my house. Is this how we want to run democracy?
We condemn the system put in place by the minority supported by the governor of Ondo state, we heard from reliable source that this morning they brought thugs again to the complex of the Ondo State House of assembly; staffs were forcefully pushed out of their offices because they wanted to sit today. We condemn such acts, it is barbaric,” George said.
The lawmakers denied being sponsored by anybody as alleged. “We are talking about the legislative duties of the House; this arm of government is an independent one. Let the governor allow it to be like that. We were elected by people to represent make laws that will benefit the people and look into it to ensure that any law we make the executive arm of government use it for the betterment of people. We won’t allow ourselves to be used for something else and we are telling the people that we are for them and are not an appendage of government,” they said.
The lawmakers expressed appreciation to the people of Ondo state especially students, civil servants, youth organisations and market women, for standing by them and not allowing the will of the minority to prevail over the majority and for standing for the truth and assured them that the situation will soon be a thing of the past.
Further, they declared that: “Let us set the record straight about two of our members who claimed that their signatures were forged; they have been part of this struggle, participated in the first impeachment that was reversed by the governor, participated in the second impeachment and this struggle. We want to state that we have the support of eminent Nigerians who are ready to support us in the area of forensic analysis.
“I want my honourable friends to know that nothing is enough for an honourable member to become dishonourable. In a battle between good and evil, neutrality is morally indefensible, I appeal to your conscience and we do not want to go far over the matter but if we are pushed too far, we will allow forensic analysis and you know what that means. Both honourable members signed the document; you were with us in the struggle,” they concluded.
and then