ONDO ASSEMBLY CRISIS: I was ‘impeached’ to cover up fraud of new speaker— Oloyelogun

The embattled speaker of the Ondo State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Bamidele Oloyelogun who was reportedly impeached last week has alleged that the new speaker “forged” signature of lawmakers to impeach him in order to cover up the fraudulent activities of the latter.

Oloyelogun alongside his deputy, Oladeji Iroju were impeached by the 26-member house of assembly where 18 of the lawmakers signed to their impeachment over grounds of gross misconduct.

However, the former speaker has continued to lay claim of the leadership of the house.

Addressing news men in Akure on Sunday, the embattled speaker said the group of lawmakers that endorsed his impeachment which now has Hon. Olamide George has their speaker did so to cover up his fraudulent act.

He noted that the new speaker who represents Akure North and South state constituency also doubles as the Vice President of the Athletic Federation of Nigeria (AFN)

“Their purported speaker on the attempted impeachment, Hon. George Olamide, a fraudulent personality who is currently the Vice President of Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) doubles as the member of Ondo State House of Assembly and is being paid for both. He misled the House of Assembly about the true information of his financial rights from AFN.”

Oloyelogun describes Olamide George as an unpatriotic Nigerian for holding two public offices at the same time.

“He’s not a patriotic Nigeria as he engages in holding two public offices at the same time. Panels had been raised to check out this before he led this attempted impeachment on the 9th of November, 2018. I guess he did this to cover up his misdeeds. That’s conflict of interest. ”

He insisted that signatures of two of the 18 lawmakers that reportedly signed the impeachment notice were forged.

READ ALSO: Human rights commission probes ‘killing of 492 Shiites by the Army, Police’

“They claimed to have formed two-third as a condition to impeach the Speaker and the Deputy speaker, whereas they were less in number as Hon. Sunday Olajide and Hon. Oluyede Olusola were not part of the attempted impeachment”

He continued, “It’s interesting to mention that the fraudulent group has two majority leaders in person of Hon. Araoyinbo Olugbenga Joseph and Hon. Fajolu Abimbola Olutope. With this, they do not have any Deputy Speaker as against their claims. Check today’s National Newspapers.

“All the above are enough evidence to proof to the citizen of Ondo State that these people are not peace loving. They don’t care to put the state in problems just for their personal interests. ”

Meanwhile, the Olamide George-led group has cried out over threat to their life and that of their family members. The lawmakers reportedly boycotted the reconciliation meeting called by the governor and has since moved to Ibadan.

News went out last Friday that the state assembly had impeached its Speaker and Deputy Speaker, a move that reportedly saw men of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) invade the assembly complex along Igbatoro road where journalist, staff and lawmakers were beaten.

The lawmakers accused the speaker and his deputy to have expended about N1 billion out of the N1.3 billion budget for the assembly without the approval of the house.

Join the conversation

Opinions

Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism

Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.

As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.

If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.

Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.

Donate Now