Speaker of the Ogun State House of Assembly, Olakunle Oluomo, representing Ifo 1 State Constituency, has been impeached.
Oluomo was immediately replaced by Hon. Oludaisi Elemide from Odeda state constituency.
Both Elemide and Oluomo are both members of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC.
Impeachment
During the plenary presided over by the Deputy Speaker, Mrs Bolanle Ajayi from Yewa South State Constituency; Adegoke Adeyanju from Yewa North 1, moved the motion for the speaker’s impeachment while it was seconded by Mr Ademola Adeniran of Sagamu ll state constituency.
Minutes past 10:00 am, Adeyanju had entered the assembly chamber with the Maze in company of other lawmakers.
The fierce looking lawmakers immediately settled down and faced the singular legislative business of the day which was to impeach Mr Oluomo. 18 out of the 26 members voted in support of the impeachment.
At the Assembly, there are 18 APC members while the 8 other members are of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.
Both the Clerk and the Deputy Clerk, Mr Deji Adeyemo and Mrs Funmilayo Adeyemi respectively were also at the plenary.
How trouble started
Findings by this reporter showed that Oluomo does not enjoy the good will of majority of his colleagues as many of them believed the now ex-speaker was arrogant and disloyal to them.
In 2022, Oluomo and his then deputy, Dare Kadiri, locked horns over the finances of the Assembly. The latter had accused Oluomo of running the finances of the assembly in secrecy.
He further accused Oluomo of forging his signature to defraud the assembly to the tune of N50 million.
This scuffle led to the impeachment of Kadiri, first as deputy speaker and later suspended.
The embittered lawmaker, however, was invited by the Economic and Financial Crime Commission, EFCC, where he indicted Oluomo on financial misappropriation.
In the same year, an investigative report showed how Oluomo, together with some career staffers of the assembly, allegedly embezzled millions of naira belonging to the House, including forging the receipts of two filling stations, a court document filed before the Federal High Court in the state showed.
The EFCC presently is in a legal battle with the embattled speaker and two other career staffers of the assembly over an alleged misappropriation of N2.5 billion public funds.
He is battling a nine count charge that was adjourned for 29th and 30th January before a Federal High Court in Abeokuta.
This, among many other battles of Oluomo culminated into hatred for his person by members of the assembly.
Speaking with OsunDailyNG, Damilola Soneye, Obafemi Owode State Constituency, noted that the office of the speaker is to be first among equals, “But in Oluomo’s case it is like a master to his workers.”
He further noted that the speaker was impeached following his alleged gross misconduct which bothers on high handedness, lack of focus and transparency, arrogance, poor leadership style, financial misappropriation and inciting members against themselves.
In their open jubilation at the assembly complex, other members of the Assembly endorsed Soneye’s allegations against the impeached speaker.
New speaker
Speaking with newsmen shortly after his enthronement on Tuesday, the new speaker, Elemide explained that the people of the state should expect the best from his leadership.
He said, “We are law abiding legislators. We want the world to know that there is now a change in leadership. 18 members signed for me to be the speaker. People should remain calm. We are in custody of all the authority of the house. We are saying that the new leadership will support the governor.
“The governor does not know anything about this impeachment, This is our decision as legislators and new leadership has emerged.”
Policemen and officers of the Department of the State Services, DSS, have taken over the legislative complex to prevent the breakdown of law and order.
While his impeachment was ongoing, Oluomo was with Governor Dapo Abiodun and his deputy at the swearing of judges and permanent secretaries at the cultural centre a distance of about three kilometres.
Whether or not the governor tacitly supports the impeachment is currently unclear as at the time of filing this report.
