•Olamide Oladidji
Speaker of Ondo State House of Assembly, Olamide Oladidji, may be spending his last week in office as it has been confirmed that he would inevitably be impeached if he failed to resign on Sunday.
The Chairman of the House Committee on Information, Tunji Fabiyi, confirmed this yesterday while fielding questions from journalists.
He reaffirmed that 21 out of the remaining 25 members of the Assembly have signed the impeachment notice of the Speaker, reports Daily Independent.
Fabiyi disclosed that the angry members had met the state governor, Lucky Aiyedatiwa, on the OSOPADEC budget padding perpetrated by the Speaker without the knowledge of other lawmakers.
He revealed that the Assembly would have convened but for the intervention of the governor and the appeal by the Speaker that he should be given till Sunday to tender his resignation.
Fabiyi said: “We have resolved that Mr. Speaker should go. But in the wisdom of the leadership of the House, we felt we should meet with Mr. Governor. And we have taken the resolution of the members to Mr. Governor. Because the one we did before, they were castigating us, saying somebody was sponsoring us.
“So, to avoid that, the leadership of the House went to Mr. Governor to tell him that this one is not about him. This is what Mr. Speaker has done, and we don’t want him again. It is we that he is leading, and we don’t want him to lead us again.
“Twenty-one members have signed for his removal. But in the wisdom of the leadership of the House, not to make it appear as if we are striking too quickly, we went to Mr. Governor. Mr. Governor requested for some time.
“On this issue, we don’t have any problem with Mr. Governor. It is about the OSOPADEC budget. A resolution was written in the name of members without our knowledge.
“It was stated that members had sat down and agreed to it, and that it was our resolution, which it was not.
“And it is a criminal offence. You cannot shave our heads behind our back. That is what we are fighting for.
“So, if somebody is protecting him, it means that person is aiding and abetting him.”
When asked if the speaker fails to resign on Sunday as promised, the spokesman to Assemble declared that they would impeach him.
“If he fails to resign, we will remove him,” Fabiyi said.
It was gathered that the Mace of the Assembly is currently in the possession of the speaker.
But the spokesman for the Assembly said: “We are legislators, we know how to go about it when the time comes.”
However, the speaker had on Tuesday denied the allegations regarding the N44m fraud and plan to resign as the speaker of the Assembly.
He had described the allegations, saying “It is false, completely lacks merit, and is sponsored by desperate political detractors aimed at destabilising the legislative arm and heating up the polity.
“Given that the sponsors of this rumour failed to present valid evidence, the premise of this fake news is not only absurd but also an insult to the intelligence of the reading public.
“To further expose the malicious intent of these anonymous “sources,” we wish to clarify the internal financial procedures of the Assembly.”
