The Twist in Ondo Assembly Crisis
The struggle for a ‘vibrant’ legislature has gradually turned to an avenue for members of the Ondo State House of Assembly to pursue their personal interests in the House thus deepening confusion caused by the convoluted crisis, writes James Sowole
Going by the current situation and relationship among members of the legislative arm of government in Ondo State, it would not be an overstatement to describe the State House of Assembly as one in disarray as the crisis which started in the twilight of the administration of Dr. Olusegun Mimiko has been taking different dimensions on a daily basis.
It was no longer news that the crisis had led to the division of membership of the House into two equal halves with 13 on each side. While there were five members of the All Progressive Party (APC) with eight members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on one side led then by Hon Malachi Coker, the other side led by Jumoke Akindele comprises of 13 members of the PDP.
When the crisis started, many people thought that it was meant to prevent Mimiko from using the Assembly to get approval for certain things but the tide has turned and it had become an avenue for some members of the House to seek personal benefits.
That the crisis created opportunity for some aggrieved members to pursue their personal ambition was evidenced by the struggle that was witnessed in the process of choosing the leadership among the 13 aggrieved members that purportedly impeached the speaker, Akindele; his deputy, Hon Fatai Olotu; and the Majority Leader, Hon Dayo Akinsoyinu.
Left for the governor, Mr Oluwarotimi Akeredolu SAN, total reconciliation between the two factions of the 26-member Assembly was his concern immediately he was inaugurated as the governor but the lust for power turned the matter to a more complicated one particularly on the side of the purportedly aggrieved faction.
THISDAY learnt that when Akeredolu resumed office, he pointedly told the 13 members of the purportedly aggrieved faction who requested that he should order the reopening of the Assembly for them to sit, that he did not want sectional settlement, but a resolution that would involve the entire 26 members.
To ensure total reconciliation of the entire House members, former speakers of the Assembly, Ayo Agbonmuserin, Oluwasegunota Bolarinwa, Victor Olabimtan and Taofeek Abdulsalam were made to meet with all members where a decision was taken in the interest of peace so that the legislative activities could start in earnest.
According to findings, it was resolved at the meeting that the Akindele faction should withdraw all cases in court, that she, Olotu and Akinsoyinu should resign.
The other faction led by Malachi Coker and his deputy, Ayodele Arowele, were also expected to follow suit two days later so that they can all hold plenary where a new speaker and other principal officers would be selected.
However, this was not to be until the matter degenerated, which made the people to allege that the Coker faction was not ready for resolution of the crisis because he and other purported leaders of the group failed to honour the agreement reached at the meeting with former speakers.
Rather than resigning, Coker presided over a plenary on March 20, where it was reiterated that Akindele and the other principal officers had been impeached and they were directed to return all properties of the Assembly to the clerk.
As expected, this action of the Coker led faction was not satisfactory to the other group, who saw it as a breach of the agreement.
But for every action of this nature, somebody or group of persons are likely to benefit. So the crisis created an opportunity for the executive to get approval for the list of 18 Caretaker Chairmen of local governments that was sent to the Assembly within hours despite controversies generated by the court judgment on the conduct of council election of April last year.
The express approval of the Assembly paved the way for the inauguration of the local government caretaker chairmen few hours later after the action of the Assembly plenary that had in attendance only 13 purportedly aggrieved lawmakers.
On the day that the Assembly approved the list of chairmen, the leadership did more than expected with the election of principal officers of the House, a development which also caused disagreement among the 13 lawmakers in the faction.
At the end of the election, Hon David Oloyelogun of Ifedore Constituency in the Central Senatorial District, scored nine votes to emerge as the Speaker after defeating Hon Olamide George of Akure North, who polled four votes, Hon Iroju Ogundeji of Odigbo II Constituency emerged as the Deputy Speaker unopposed while Hon Olugbenga Araoyinbo of Akoko South West II, emerged as the Majority Leader.
The result of the election did not go down well with George, who worked out of the chamber in protest against the election. But he later came back into the chamber after some members appealed to him.
As part of the game plan, four of the eight members of the PDP in the faction announced their defection to the APC at a news conference addressed at the Cocoa Conference Hall of the Governor’s Office, citing the crisis in the PDP as one of the reasons for their action.
Those that defected on the day were the new speaker (Oloyelogun), the Deputy Speaker (Ogundeji), Ayo Arowele of Owo Constituency and Segun Ajimotokin of Irele Constituency. But the following day, membership of the APC in the Assembly increased by one more person, Oluyede Olusola of Ose Constituency.
The five lawmakers at the plenary on April 4 one after the other explained reasons for their defection on the floor of the Assembly
The speaker said he decided to join the APC because the PDP had been factionalised from the national to the local government level to the extent that members do not know which of the group is in the control.
Corroborating the position of the speaker, the deputy speaker said due to the crisis that was rocking the PDP the people of his constituency had been expressing worries that he would not be able to serve them as expected.
“My people had been talking to me to tow the line of the party that can give them dividends of democracy, so I do not have the choice than to respect them because they are the one that I am representing”, he said.
Another defector, Ayo Arowele of Owo II, said: “What is happening is like when you are in a ship that is sinking, you do not have the choice than to find your way unless you want to sink with the ship. PDP is sinking, I have to find my way, so I am moving from PDP to APC from today”.
Segun Ajimotokin (Irele) expressed worries that PDP under which umbrella he was elected was having problem but he has no choice than to move because the solution was not in sight yet.
“I had observed very well that it will take a very long time before the PDP crisis is resolved. I am not unaware that some people will not be happy but I have taken a decision that will make people happy”, he said.
The fifth defector, Oluyede Olusola, said the decision to move was basically because the governor is from Ondo North Senatorial District and also from the same Federal Constituency.
“My defection is basically because I am a progressive person. I am from the Northern Senatorial District where the governor is from and I don’t want to oppose him. I have to join him to move the state forward. It was a decision taken after consultation with my people”, he said.
With the defection of the five PDP lawmakers, the number of APC lawmakers in the House had risen to 10 while the PDP now has 16 members in the Assembly.
The Coker led team was very tactical in its action particularly on the election of the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker. The principal officers did not defect until after their election since it is the House rule that a party with majority should produce principal officers.
Reactions Speaking on the situation, the spokesperson of the Akindele group, Siji Akindioose, of the Ondo East Constituency said the whole thing was about ambition of some people adding that his own group had nothing to struggle with anybody.
He said there was a fundamental error about the whole issue because members of the Assembly as tradition don’t sit on Friday and Monday and that it would be wrong for some people to say they effected leadership change on those day.
Akindiose also said that it was not possible for 13 members of the House to sit and said they had impeached the speaker and principal officers when it was cleared that such action can only take place with endorsement of two third majority.
“Where then did 13 becomes 18. So Akindele was not impeached from his office as the speaker. We were prevailed upon by former speakers who we respected to settle in the interest of Ondo State. We have done all that were required from our own side but they were the one that reneged on the agreement.
“Sequel to their intrigues, you can see that more confusion had been created and people can now see who is doing what”, Akindiose stated.
On the defection of some members of the PDP to APC, Akindiose noted that everybody has the right to belong to association of his choice but the defection was done too early.
“We have made the pledge that we will not do anything that will affect the administration adversely because it is not part of our mandate to oppose any government but to do the right thing.
“Again let it be known that (the fact that) somebody belong to the APC does not mean that such person will be more loyal to the state or the governor than the PDP man”, he said.
However, in what looked as if reason was now prevailing, the Assembly on Wednesday said the purported impeachment of Akindele and his deputy had been converted to retirement.
It is expected that more events will unfold in due course. But for now, the Assembly crisis had prevented the governor from sending names of commissioner nominees and special advisers to the House for approval.