The newly-appointed Deputy Governor of Ondo State, Alhaji Lasisi Oluboyo, was on Monday inaugurated after his clearance by the state House of Assembly.
The Assembly had in the early hours of Monday removed the erstwhile Deputy Governor, Alhaji Alli Olanusi, from office.
This was based on the submission of a panel that found him guilty of gross misconduct.
Though the House of Assembly and the panel set up by the state’s Chief Judge found him guilty of various offences, many believe the sacking of Olanusi was as a result of his face-off with his boss, Governor Olusegun Mimiko.
Olanusi had shortly before the general election defected from the Peoples Democratic Party to the All Progressives Congress.
Though the APC had the upper hand in the presidential election in the state, the PDP won the Assembly election.
On Monday, after the screening and confirmation of Oluboyo, who until then was the Commissioner for Agriculture, he was inaugurated.
But the APC in the state has described the removal of Olanusi as temporary, vowing to reclaim the mandate through legal means.
The party described the removal of Olanusi as the height of impunity by the PDP-led government in the state.
A statement signed by the Publicity Secretary of the party in the state, Abayomi Adesanya, said it is laughable that a rubber stamped House of Assembly could hurriedly impeached the deputy governor and accept nomination of another person in a haste.
According to the party, the whole impeachment was a charade, which will be thrown away by a court of competent jurisdiction.
The APC alleged that Mimiko has turned politics in the state to a desperate affair.
It said it was laughable that nothing happened to Mimiko when he decamped and joined the PDP, but it only became a sin when Olanusi left for the APC.
The statement by Adesanya reads: “The impeachment of Alhaji Ali Olanusi as the deputy governor of Ondo State is temporary. The impeachment was a sham and charade. How on earth will a deputy governor be impeached within five days?
“It shows that there were unholy alliance between the Governor Olusegun Mimiko, Chief Judge, Olasehinde Kumuyi and the governor stooges who called themselves state lawmakers for them to embark on illegal process to impeach the deputy governor.
“It was clear to the people of the state that before the directive of the State Assembly Speaker to serve Olanusi the impeachment notice, the embattled deputy governor was not in the state. Without any court order, the Speaker directed them to paste the notice on the quarters of the deputy governor and this is unlawful.”