The factional Speaker of the Ekiti State House of Assembly, Mr Dele Olugbemi, has said his All Progressives Congress (APC) counterparts’ visit to Osun State was a journey in futility as they are chasing shadows.
He further claimed that “Omirin and his deputy were not duly elected by the Assembly but were imposed by former Governor Kayode Fayemi against the wish of the APC leaders.”
In a statement Olugbemi made available in Ado Ekiti on Thursday, he said that Omirin could not say that he was “duly elected by members of the Assembly”, and contended that “Omirin’s emergence ran afoul of the constitution which made him not fit for the position.”
Olugbemi challenged Omirin “to swear by the Holy Bible if he was truly elected by the House members,” and argued that “if elections were conducted, Mr Idowu Alabi or Sunday Adu would have emerged as the Speaker then.”
While charging Omirin to “stop bragging and face the realities of life”, saying “the former Speaker should embrace peace and support Governor Fayose in moving Ekiti State forward.”
He insisted that “against the claims by Omirin and his co-travellers, there is no illegality in last week’s removal of Dr Omirin as the speaker of the Assembly,” saying “the claim by the APC members of the Assembly that Governor Ayo Fayose wants to turn them to house boys is frivolous.”
He said: “it is baffling that honourable members can start going about peddling falsehood. For the purpose of setting the records straight, the Ekiti State House of Assembly constitutionally and legally sat last Thursday and removed Omirin and elected a new set of leaders.
“Our APC colleagues also lied by saying that Governor Ayo Fayose is behaving like an authoritarian in his dealings with them. The governor held a series of meetings with members of the EKHA and I was privy to those meetings.
“The governor nearly prostrated for us in some of the meetings, begging us on the need to put Ekiti State first in our considerations. Surprisingly, anytime we agreed to work for the growth of the state, our APC colleagues would change their minds when they get out of the venue and are teleguided by their leaders in Lagos and Abuja.
“For us in the PDP, it is Ekiti first, but for them in the APC, it is APC first. We cannot allow anybody or group to hold the state down and be a stumbling block to the progress of our dear state,” he said.
Olugbemi advised the APC lawmakers to come back to Ekiti State and perform the constitutional roles they were elected for.
He advised Omirin to note that he would be coming back to be a member of the Assembly, not the speaker, as the suit Omirin filed about his removal has not been determined.
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