Members of the Ondo State House of Assembly on Thursday held a parliamentary meeting as part of moves to impeach the Speaker, Olamide Oladiji.
However, the lawmakers’ plan to carry out the impeachment on the floor of the House was unsuccessful following the appearance of three unknown men, alleged to be political thugs, at the Assembly complex.
It was gathered that it took the intervention of policemen from the state command to drive the men out of the complex.
The legislators, however, continued with a parliamentary meeting on the premises of the Assembly complex.
One of the legislators, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the meeting was strategic and centred on the removal of the Speaker, adding that “the man is gone already.”
He alleged that the unknown men were thugs sent to prevent the plenary from holding.
“He (the embattled Speaker) sent thugs to the Assembly to attack us, but he was disappointed. We sent them out, but we did not hold plenary again. But we will still meet to impeach him,” he stated.
The Assembly has been engulfed in crisis for the past few weeks, with 21 of its 26 members reportedly signing a notice for the Speaker’s impeachment over allegations of financial misconduct.
The Speaker was accused of diverting N44m meant for the reordering of the budget of the Ondo State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission.
Consequently, the aggrieved lawmakers gave the Speaker a deadline to resign or face impeachment on the floor of the House.
However, the impeachment move was stalled following interventions by Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa and the leadership of the All Progressives Congress.
Oladiji has denied the allegations, insisting that nothing of such happened.
Speaking with our correspondent on the telephone shortly before the meeting, the Chairman of the House Committee on Information, Olatunji Fabiyi, said the impeachment would be carried out “definitely.”
He said, “We have been hearing news that we have abandoned the process. This is a lie and misinformation. We are still on it; he can’t be our Speaker again.
“Although the governor has been speaking with some of us, that does not stop the impeachment. There is no going back.”
Reacting, the embattled Speaker denied sending thugs to the Assembly, saying the men were members of his constituency who came to the complex for another purpose and had no intention of disrupting the lawmakers’ activities.
Oladiji also insisted that the matter had been resolved and that there was no longer any impeachment process.
He said, “There’s nothing like an impeachment process because the issue has been resolved and there is no impeachment.
“The governor and other leaders of the party have already intervened, and today we were supposed to have our parliamentary meeting.
“I have about three of my youth leaders whom I invited to come and pick up forms for recruitment, but, unknowingly to them, they did not know what was going on in the House of Assembly.
“Some of the members approached them and asked them why they were at the House of Assembly. They are not new and have been coming to the House of Assembly, but they insisted that they did not want to see them on the premises.
“I came out of my office and tried to pacify the members, telling them that they were my people who had been coming to the House of Assembly and had not harassed any member. But they said they did not want them and asked them to leave.
“So, there is nothing like an impeachment notice. There is nothing like an impeachment process, and we were able to resolve the whole matter.”
