Ekiti: Oshiomhole Berates Fayose Over Impeachment of Speaker By 7 PDP Lawmakers

Posted by African Examiner Featured, Latest Headlines, News From The State Friday, November 21st, 2014

Oyewale Oyelola

The Edo State Governor, Adams Oshiomhole has condemned the action of seven PDP lawmakers who impeached Speaker Ekiti state House of Assembly on Thursday.

New Speaker Ekiti State house of Assembly Rt. Hon Dele Joseph Olugbemi (L) taking the oath of office before the Clerk of the house Mr Tola Esan during the swaring-in of the Speaker Ekiti State house of Assembly in Ado Ekiti on Thursday

New “Speaker” Ekiti State house of Assembly Dele Joseph Olugbemi (L) taking the oath of office before the Clerk of the house Mr Tola Esan.

The seven PDP lawmakers out 26 members impeached speaker, Dr. Adewale Omirin and Deputy Speaker, Mr. Tunji Orisalade in a plenary session in the House of Assembly Chamber in Ado Ekiti.

The 7 pro-Fayose lawmakers later elected Hon. Dele Olugbemi as their new Speaker.

Oshiomhole in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Peter Okhiria and made available to journalists urged Fayose not to link him with political gangsterism that has become peculiar with the Ekiti State Governor.

Edo state governor spoke in reaction to a statement credited to the Ekiti Governor that he (Oshiomhole) shut down the Edo State House of Assembly and relocated sitting to the Government House.

He explained that of the 7 PDP members, three were on suspension while the seat of another member had been declared vacant.

The statement reads in part: “We find it utterly laughable and as the height of political childishness for the Ekiti State Governor to hide behind his media aides and seek to drag the name of the Governor of Edo State, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, into his crude gangster tactics which he has re-introduced into Ekiti politics, less than two months after assuming office.

“If the Ekiti Governor is too lazy to read and too politically illiterate to know what is happening in Edo State House of Assembly, we expected his psychedelic media aides to simply shut their loud mouths rather than behave like capering neophytes.

“Even a kindergarten knows that 15 is greater than 5. So if five PDP members decide to sit with three suspended members and another, whose seat was declared vacant in a chamber, which is undergoing renovation, then we can at best regard that as the height of crass legislative irresponsibility.

“It is ridiculous to even contemplate that the Ekiti Governor and his media aides do not know that 15 is greater than five! For sure, they seem engrossed with their stomach infrastructure mantra, such a dubious contraption which can only be contrived by an ideologically clueless and gluttonous administration.

“But for the kind of democracy we practice in Nigeria, where the PDP promotes and condones all manners of illegalities, inanities and shenanigans which have become the second nature of that party, Ayodele Fayose would have been cooling off his heels in gaol rather than brandishing the appellation of being a Governor.

“We are thoroughly ashamed that Ekiti, hitherto known as the fountain of knowledge, is being reduced to a mindless bubble by a man running her affairs without a discernible direction like a drowning man clutching desperately at flotsam.

“If Ekiti people, with all their avowed sophistication and intellectuality, have elected to present a political rascal as their number one citizen, so be it; but they must understand that there is a huge difference between character and infamy.”

The 19 APC lawmakers of Ekiti state house of assembly in a press conference in Lagos vowed to resist illegal action of PDP lawmakers. Dr Dele Omirin stated that he remains the speaker of Ekiti House of Assembly.

Meanwhile, Lere Olayinka SA (Public Communications and New Media) to Governor Fayose in his reaction said: “It is unfortunate that we are in a country where people who should naturally bury their heads in shame still speak.

“Aides of a supposed Comrade Governor, who looked a hapless widow in the eyes and told her to “go and die” ought to know that they lack moral rights to speak in a saner clime.

“However, because we are in a Nigeria where anything goes, aides of a governor like Adams Oshiomhole, who relocated the sittings of his State House of Assembly to his bedroom in the Edo State Government House can open their oppressive mouths and defend the indefensible.

“Is it proper for a State House of Assembly to sit in the Government House? Should a State House of Assembly complex be put under locks and keys for six months? And can actions taken in the sitting of a House of Assembly held inside the Edo State Government House be said to have stamp of legality?

“Here we are with a supposed progressive Comrade Governor perpetuating ilegalities in Edo State with lawmakers of his party, APC sitting exclusively in the Government House where he resides with his wife and children, and instead of his aides to remove the timber in their boss’ eyes, they are getting concerned with the toothpicks in another person eyes.

“The reality is that whether the APC lawmakers are 15 or 5, the lawmakers cannot sit anywhere else apart from the State House of Assembly. Or are they saying that the National Assembly can also relocate to Tafawa Balewa Square in Lagos?

“It is our advise that Governor Adams Oshiomhole should solve the problems in the Edo State House of Assembly and stop meddling in the Ekiti State affairs because on June 21, 2014, the people elected their governor in person of Peter Ayodele Fayose, and millions of APC evil machinations cannot stop him from governing Ekiti State for four years.”