Ekiti Speaker accuses Governor Fayose of freezing Assembly’s accounts

The Speaker, Ekiti State House of Assembly, Dr. Adewale Omirin, has accused Governor Ayodele Fayose of freezing the bank accounts of the state House of Assembly.

He also expressed worry over alleged “incessant blackmail and intimidation” of the Assembly by the governor over the refusal of the 19 All Progressives Congress members to defect to the Peoples Democratic Party. The PDP has seven members in the Assembly.

He alleged that the action of the governor ran contrary to the dictates of democracy.

The Speaker, in a statement by his Special Adviser on Media, Mr. Wole Olujobi, described the latest allegation that the Assembly demanded N135m for the screening of commissioner nominees “as a propaganda taken too far.”

Omirin, who said he would not have reacted if not for the public that could be deceived by the allegations, expressed worry over reports portraying the legislature as working against the governor’s bid to constitute his cabinet.

Describing some media reports on the nominees as misleading, Omirin explained that, “The standard practice is to present the list of the nominees in the plenary while the nominees will follow with the submission of their credentials. They will be screened before confirmation.

“The governor sent three nominees on Monday and the list was read in the Parliament that day. Since it is a public document, we read the letter on the second day in the plenary. Nobody submitted any credential. We don’t know the nominees.

“They have not submitted their credentials for the appropriate committees to screen them. It is surprising that the governor expects the House to confirm the nominees as sent. This is strange in parliamentary conduct.”

Omirin regretted that the governor responded by freezing the bank accounts of the House of Assembly, saying one arm of government cannot close down the activities of the other.

He said, “How can you elevate intimidation and blackmail to an art of governance? The Chief Judge was blackmailed that he took a bribe of N20m to stall hearing on local council development areas case and another N200m to reassign the E-Eleven’s perjury case to Justice Olusegun Ogunyemi to return a guilty verdict on the governor.

“After the judiciary had been blackmailed to submission, it is now the turn of the parliament to be brought to its knees by blackmailing members and freezing the accounts of the House as if the House is a department in the Governor’s Office.”

According to him, PDP thugs in the wee hours of Tuesday stormed and ransacked the homes of members of the legislature, who included Kayode Fasakin, Kehinde Boluwade and Olasehinnde Ogunrinde, after the Assembly pointed out to the governor that the subsisting case on the local government was responsible for the Assembly’s refusal to treat his request for the reconstitution of the LGAs.

Omirin threatened Fayose that the legislators mentioned in the bribery allegation would seek redress in court.

He added that the Ekiti State broadcasting radio and television stations would be sued for libel over their broadcasts.

Credit: Kamarudeen Ogundele/Punch