The
political drama in Ekiti State continued on Monday with the Peoples
Democratic Party members in the state House of Assembly appointing
Dele Olugbemi as Protem Speaker.
The PDP has seven lawmakers in the
26-member assembly but they were joined by three persons whose
identities were as of 7pm on Monday a subject of controversy.
While the All Progressives Congress
claimed that the three were not members of the assembly, the PDP caucus
argued “what we have are honorary members of the assembly” and not party
members.
As early as 7am, a large number of armed
policemen used an Armoured Personnel Carrier to block the entrance to
the assembly, allegedly allowing only the PDP lawmakers in.
Although the Speaker did not show up, his
Deputy Speaker, Taiwo Orisalade, claimed that some APC lawmakers,
including himself were barred from entering the assembly premises by the
policemen.
During the plenary, the PDP caucus
‘confirmed’ the appointment of three commissioner nominees and caretaker
committees for the 16 Local Government Areas of the state.
The commissioner nominees are Owoseni
Ajayi (Justice and Attorney General), Kayode Oso (Works and Transport),
and Toyin Ojo (Finance).
Their confirmation followed the
presentation of a list containing their names by the appointed leader
of Government Business for the day, Mr. Samuel Ajibola.
Ajibola, in an interview with journalists
cited the absence of the Speaker, Adewale Omirin, and Orisalade as
the reason for the appointment of Olugbemi as the protem speaker.
He argued that Section 27 of the Standing
Order of the assembly empowered its(assembly) members to appoint a
protem speaker in the absence of the Speaker and his deputy.
He also insisted that 10 members sat but refused to disclose their identities and their party.
Ajibola said, “We don’t have PDP or APC
in the assembly; what we have are honorary members of the assembly. We
don’t treat party issues in the assembly as party members. But when we
get to party secretariats, we talk about party issues.
“What transpired was a continuation of
our sitting where we read the letter of the Governor(Ayo Fayose)
requesting the screening and confirmation of his commissioner nominees.”
But Omirin, whose filling station was
sealed off a few weeks ago by the state government and the APC described
the sitting by the PDP lawmakers as illegal.
The speaker, who threatened to go to
court, said the seven PDP members included the six APC members that
defected to the PDP on the day Fayose was inaugurated as governor.
He gave their names as Ajibola Samuel,
Adeojo Alexander, Adeloye Adeyinka, Israel Ajiboye, Fatunbi Olajide ,
Olugbemi Dele and Olayinka Modupe Abeni.
A statement by the speaker’s Special
Adviser on Media, Wole Olujobi, alleged that the seven PDP lawmakers
also attempted to pass resolutions to ratify the “many illegalities” by
the governor.
The statement read in part, “We have
heard of this reckless abuse of the constitution from other states like
movies, but today (Monday) before our very eyes, Governor Fayose
provided seven members of the PDP with 300 armed riot policemen
complete with APCs to conduct a plenary in the assembly to approve the
reconstitution of the council caretaker committees and the confirmation
of the commissioner-nominees without the 19 members of the APC in
attendance.
“The prelude to today’s(Monday) event was
well established, details of which were published in the media. The
first attempt was when they planned to storm the house with thugs to
attack APC members with the aid of security agents to change the
leadership of the assembly.
“The plan was foiled when it leaked. The
second attempt was planned in a hotel where top members, both in Ekiti
and outside Ekiti, met to plan what was carried out this(Monday)
morning.
“The governor did a follow-up with
threats and coercion, including freezing the accounts of the assembly,
cutting of electricity supply from the Speaker’s Lodge and stopping
statutory votes for the Speaker’s upkeep and protocol.”
The Speaker added in the statement that
although the Fayose administration did not succeed in changing the
leadership of the assembly , “seven members that fell short of the
required nine to form a quorum sat to illegally approve the
reconstitution of the local government caretaker committees in the
state, including confirming the appointment of the commissioner-nominees
who were never screened as required by the law.”
Omirin explained that before the assembly
could sit if he was not available, by law, majority members would write
him on the need to sit.
He added, “Monday, according to the House
Standing Rule, is a day for the parliamentary matters where reports by
members from their constituencies are reviewed and agenda set for the
week sittings at the plenary.
“But against the rule of the assembly,
seven PDP members led by armed policemen and thugs bundled the Clerk
to his office and at gunpoint removed the mace from his office to
illegally conduct the plenary where they approved the reconstitution of
the caretaker committees in the councils and confirmation of the
commissioners.
“To demonstrate that police had interest
and were actively involved in this constitutional breach, they used
their trucks to block entrances to the assembly complex, preventing
members of the APC who had one business or the other to do in the
assembly.
“Electronic media were prevented from covering the sitting while selected print media reporters were allowed in.”
Omirin later told journalists in
Ikere-Ekiti that the PDP caucus connived with the governor to import
three thugs to form a quorum during the sitting.
The speaker, who claimed that none of
the 19 APC members in the assembly attended the “illegal sitting,”
also said that two of them – Boluade Kehinde and Olasehinde Ogunrinde-
had gone into hiding because they were declared wanted by the state
government.
The Majority Leader, Mr. Churchill Adedipe, said, “ Some of the lawmakers that went to the assembly were turned back.
“We will not allow a particular individual to move the state backward. We can’t have a maximum ruler.”
Also, the APC in the state argued that
only seven members of the assembly sat instead of nine that are required
to form a quorum.
The party, through its Publicity
Secretary, Taiwo Olatunbosun, accused Fayose of compelling the PDP
caucus to sit and do his bidding.
He said, “In his characteristic manner,
Fayose this(Monday) morning went to the hallowed chamber in company with
armed soldiers and policemen, dreadfully garbed, and unleashed terror
on the innocent assembly workers, forced his way in and compelled his
seven -man PDP assembly members to sit and do his bidding.
“We condemn the act in its entirety and
we call on all well-meaning Nigerians to correct Governor Fayose. We
have not minced words to point out the series of constitutional
infringements being committed by Fayose and this is just one in many.
We are cocksure that this impunity will not stop.
“We also learnt that realising that it
would require nine members to form a quorum in a 26-member house, Fayose
also brought some strange men into the hallowed chamber to impersonate
honourable assembly members in his attempt at ensuring a constituted
quorum.
“He insisted that they must appoint a
speaker among them and go ahead with legislative matters, forgetting
that the assembly doesn’t hold plenary on Mondays.
“We condemn in categorical terms Fayose’s
lawlessness and executive recklessness. His bully and arm-twisting
tactics know no bounds and he is acting like an emperor who cannot be
stopped.
“He has hijacked and pocketed the
Judiciary and he believes there is nothing stopping him from taking over
the legislative functions as long as his gun-totting soldiers are at
his beck and call.”
The APC national leadership which also
faulted the sitting, alleged that over 200 armed policemen offered
protection to the seven PDP members of the assembly.
A statement by its National Publicity
Secretary, Lai Mohammed, also claimed that it was aware that
President Goodluck Jonathan had elevated impunity to an art, adding
that he had simply overreached himself with his party’s latest show of
shame in Ekiti State.
The APC warned Fayose not to throw the state into a needless crisis by what it described as his trademark “tomfoolery.”
The party called on the PDP and the Federal Government to stop instigating crisis in APC-controlled states.
Fayose has already inaugurated the caretaker committee members.
He urged them to make the welfare of the people their priority and to ensure the rapid transformation of their LGAs
Defending the composition of the
committees, the governor said the APC members had no moral justification
to query his action, since his predecessor, Kayode Fayemi , did similar
thing when he came on board in 2010.
“The APC are hypocrites. When l was in
government in 2006, l put up elected council officials, Former Governor
Segun Oni did his best by putting up elected council officials. But when
Fayemi came in 2010, they went round the councils and beat up all the
elected council officials and in the process , a life was lost.
“ Fayemi was in the saddle for four years and he never conducted election at the local government level.
“I want anybody that cares to investigate
that Fayemi failed to settle all the debts incurred on the cars
distributed to our traditional rulers and those given out to the market
women and other groups ,the total sum is about N2.2bn.
“The car dealers have been calling me over these debts for sometime now.”
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