Ondo political crisis: Speaker says Dep Gov, Aiyedatiwa, frustrating peace moves

The Speaker of the Ondo State House of Assembly, Hon Olamide Olajidi, has accused the Deputy Governor, Lucky Aiyedatiwa, of frustrating peace moves made by the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) by refusing to withdraw cases he filed against the Assembly in courts.

Olajidi who spoke with journalists in Akure on Saturday, said the withdrawal of the cases were some of the conditions given to Aiyedatiwa for the peace process and genuine reconciliation to take place, but lamented the fact that the embattled Deputy has refused to abide by the conditions which showed he was not ready for the reconciliation.

The Speaker confirmed that there were intervention moves from the national leadership of the party who insisted that Aiyedatiwa needed to withdraw the cases in court before the reconciliation could take place.

He also noted that the national leadership of the APC had set up a reconciliation committee led by a former Katsina State Governor, Bello Masari, to mediate but that the crisis is still unresolved due to Aiyedatiwa’s refusal to withdraw the cases he instituted.

READ ALSO:Ondo court fines Dep Gov, Aiyedatiwa, N200,000 over counsel’s absence at impeachment hearing

“We met the National Chairman, and he specifically asked me ‘how do we commence reconciliation?’ I told him that the reconciliation process has to start with the Deputy Governor. He is the one who took us to court, we cannot be reconciling ourselves when we have cases in court,” Olajidi said.

“Let him go to the court, withdraw all these cases, then we would know that we are now in for genuine reconciliation. But the deputy governor has not done so. He has appealed some of the rulings of the lower court.

“As far as the House of Assembly is concerned, we are not doing anything. The cases are in the court and we would follow due process. We are following up the cases in the court.

“At times, when there is a political tussle like this, there can be insinuations, rumours, but in the House of Assembly, we are together. We told ourselves that it is an institution, and the institution must be protected. So, we are together,” he said.

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