The two contenders to the seat of the Speaker of the Ekiti State House of Assembly, Dr. Adewale Omirin and Hon. Dele Olugbemi, are at each others’ throat over the passage of the state’s appropriation bill by a faction of the Assembly.
The Peoples Democratic Party-led faction of the Assembly, headed by Olugbemi passed the budget.
The faction is made up of seven members.
Omirin said since the passage of the budget was by the suspended seven members of the PDP, it amounted to an exercise in futility.
He explained that the seven PDP lawmakers were lawfully suspended at a sitting two weeks ago in Ado-Ekiti where resolutions on the autonomy for the local governments and House of Assembly, among others, were passed and sent to the National Assembly as Ekiti State contributions to the constitution amendment process.
Omirin, in a statement by his Special Adviser on Media, Wole Olujobi, described Wednesday’s exercise held behind closed doors as one in the series of comic tales by farcical politicians holding the reins of governance in Ekiti State.
He was quoted as saying: “It is sad that Governor Ayodele Fayose has turned Ekiti State House of Assembly to a safari park where the macho posturing of misguided adults in G7 is being masterfully manipulated by this accomplished choreographer of political sophistry.
“In the sitting they themselves knew was illegal, they chased away print and electronic reporters that got wind of their plan to sit. They held the illegal meeting with no in-house correspondents in attendance as they were also chased out. In their wisdom, they, as usual, reportedly had Lere Olayinka and Honourable Dele Olugbemi’s personal assistant in attendance.
“To them, the machination is yielding astounding results that confound and defy logic. Clearly, this is illegal, unconstitutional and another toad-for-the-dinner sitting that responsible Nigerians know quite well does not have a place in our legal statue. The Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is not a cocktail of brawn and sinews, neither does it condone the boisterous essence of gangsterism.”
Omirin said Ekiti State had grown beyond the motor park antics of pretenders to the throne of honourable members of the parliament.
Omirin insisted the APC members would continue to apply laws in whatever they do, stressing that what APC members swore to protect at inauguration was to protect the sanctity of the Nigerian constitution.
He said: “As far as the constitution of Nigeria is concerned, the ‘Assembly’ led by Olugbemi is an illegal body that has no place in law. APC lawmakers shall continue in the path of constitutionality for our errant and misguided colleagues to know that it is only through law, truth and honour that we can take Ekiti State to the heights that will be a pride to all our people.”
In his reaction, Olugbemi described the comments credited to Omirin condemning the passage of the 2015 Appropriation Bill as a ruse.
Olugbemi, who spoke through his Media Adviser, Femi Iroko, urged Omirin and his day dreamers to wake up to the realities on ground.
He said: “We are amused when people that have been removed from office, and who are in court challenging their removal and whose case has not been decided, woke up from the wrong sides of their beds and claim they are faulting an action taken by a legal and constitutional group.
“We sat in the hallowed chamber of the Ekiti State House of Assembly and received the bill from the duly elected governor of the state and worked on the bill in the constitutionally-designated venue for the sittings of an honourable house. Let Omirin tell the world where he and his co-travellers sat to take their wild decisions.
“Legislative matters are serious matters and not what a disgruntled set of people would go and sit in the parlour of a godfather and take decisions that can never be binding. Omirin and his group are free to call a family meeting for Aisegba-Ekiti and think they are not deluding themselves.
“Omirin alleged that newsmen were chased away from our sittings, that is not true and moreover, let him mention one instance when he called the world media to come and witness how the Assembly would pass a law when he was in office.
“We advise him and his group to stop their belly-aches and accept the fact that Ekiti people will not allow them to hold the progress and future of their dear state to ransom because they want to satisfy their paymasters.”