Embattled Speaker of the Ekiti State House of Assembly, Adewale Omirin,
has told his colleagues at the Lagos State House of Assembly that the
governor of his state,
He said, instead, Fayose had experience in hooliganism and that this
was what he exhibited when he sponsored seven members of the House to
impeach him, the Deputy Speaker, and other principal officers of the
House recently.
Omirin, who was given a privilege at a special parliamentary session
held by the Lagos Assembly to raise alarm over the tension-filled
political atmosphere in Ekiti and the National Assembly, as well as the
involvement of the police in partisan politics, said Fayose had thrived
on illegalities since he was elected a second time as governor of the
state.
“The seven members of the Ekiti State Assembly are committing
attrocities and are backed by the state governor. The governor has
experience in hooliganism. That’s where he has his experience,” Omirin,
who was at the Assembly with 18, out of the 26 lawmakers, said.
Giving details of the crisis at the Ekiti Assembly, Churchill
Adedipe, the Majority Leader of the Ekiti State House of Assembly, said
it started with Fayose’s second coming.
“Shortly after the inauguration of Fayose as the current governor of
the state, who, as a matter of fact, is fast turning himself into a
maximum ruler in a democracy, he started this campaign of calumny
against the House that the House was set to impeach him less than two
weeks after becoming the governor of the state.
“And logically, the question to be asked is: what has been the offence of somebody that was just being inaugurated?
“Before the world, I would want to say today that at the first
meeting we had with him to actually resolve that, he told us to our face
that he would continue to move from one market to the other to
blackmail us and to lie against us.
“To people among us who have not been opportuned to sit with him one-on-one, they had the opportunity of knowing who he is.”
He said shortly after the meeting, he wrote to the House about his
nominees for political appointment and expected the House to confirm
them without screening or even taking a look at their credentials and
other documents as against the Standing Rule of the House.
“These are people that we have not seen before, that we have not
seen their CVs, and that we strongly believed that the services and
responsibilities would either make or mar the history of that particular
place.
“As the Majority Leader, I stood up to say: ‘well, that particular
issue would be stepped down to be discussed in our next opportuned date
as provided again by the Standing Order of the House.’
“On the issue of the Local Council Development Areas (LCDAs), the
issue again was brought up and it is again guided by the Standing Order
of the House that any issue before the court, especially ones that would
have court summons to that effect, that the House has no right to
actually have any discussion on it. As such, it was stepped down.
“Shortly after the sitting of that day, they started their serial
blackmail again on ESBS (Ekiti State Broadcasting Service) to the extent
that people started calling and questions were being asked. We
adjourned that day till the next day,” adding that the House even passed
a N200 billion loan request by Fayose.
He also said the House could not, at the sitting, discuss the Local Council Development Areas, LCDA, since it was a court case.
Adedipe said suddenly, officers of the Nigeria Police were mobilised
to the Assembly where it culminated in seven members impeaching the
principal officers.
“As a matter of fact, we want to equally use this opportunity to
tell the governor of Ekiti State, Mr. Ayo Fayose, that it is not the
business of Mr. Governor to regulate the activities of the House. We are
being guided by the constitution and the Standing Order of the House.
“He may have the responsibility to regulate the activities of the
executive arm, but not the State House of Assembly. And if he had been
talking about some people negotiating the N2 billion SME loan that we
passed for him on that same day, that there was a committee set up to
discuss how the members would get 10 percent, I want to say it here that
it is only the devil that would dine and wine with Mr. Ayodele Fayose
knowing full well that we know the background of these persons in
office.
“Democracy sometimes can allow some things to fly because in a
comity of serious-minded men, you don’t need to have such a person
presiding over the affairs of men.
“And we want to state it clearly that if there are some people who
have been negotiating with him, he should look inward into the camp of
those who are presently committing criminality in the State House of
Assembly because everybody knows their antecedents,” he said while
urging the members of Lagos House of Assembly to come to their aid.
Fayose, has in the aftermath of the crisis, absolved himself of the
impeachment, arguing that he understood the principle of separation of
powers.
Ayo Fayose, has not learnt any lessons from his
fall and eventual impeachment as governor in during an uncompleted first
term in 2006.
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