Lawmakers plotting to frustrate Aiyedatiwa govt — Ondo Speaker

The Speaker of the Ondo State House of Assembly, Mr. Olamide Oladiji, has alleged that some lawmakers in the House are plotting to frustrate Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa’s administration and hinder its delivery of democratic dividends to the people.

The development follows a widening internal rift within the Assembly, despite all 26 members belonging to the ruling All Progressives Congress.

While 14 lawmakers are said to be aligned with the Speaker and actively participating in legislative activities, 12 others have reportedly stayed away over unresolved grievances.

Reports on social media indicated that the aggrieved lawmakers had begun moves to alter the Assembly’s leadership structure, including the removal of the Speaker, after allegedly passing a vote of no confidence in him over allegations of gross misconduct.

Speaking with journalists in Akure on Saturday, Oladiji said the dissenting lawmakers were deliberately attempting to destabilise government operations.

According to him, he had continued to run the Assembly strictly in line with its Rules and Standing Orders.

He said, “We have a Standing Order in the House of Assembly, including how we relate with the executive. These honourable members who claim to have passed a vote of no confidence in me have not been attending sittings. As I speak, the majority of them are outside the country.

They said they have some demands or requests from His Excellency, the governor. But our position is that even if we have requests, we should not tie them to our legislative assignments, such as the supplementary or re-ordered budget.

They insisted that they wanted to use the passage of the re-ordered budget to drive home their demands. But the 14 of us told them that we are part of this government, and whatever we need should be done maturely, not by frustrating government activities.”

Oladiji said the Assembly proceeded with the reordering of the budget at its last plenary and maintained that the group of 14 lawmakers had the support of Governor Aiyedatiwa.

According to him, “We are strongly together, and we have the backing of His Excellency because what we are doing is in the interest of the state.”

He appealed to the aggrieved legislators to return to the chamber and resume their constitutional duties.

Meanwhile, the Majority Leader of the House, Mr. Olatunji Oshati, has dismissed reports of an internal leadership crisis and plans to impeach the Speaker. https://punchng.com/no-plan-to-impeach-ondo-speaker-says-majority-leader/

There is no crisis in the Assembly. We are still together, performing our legislative duties for the development of the state,” he stated.