The Ondo State House of Assembly crisis deepened on Monday as 21 of 26 lawmakers accused Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa of undue interference, insisting that the removal of Speaker Olamide Oladiji is “non-negotiable.”

The lawmakers, who have paralyzed legislative activities in the Assembly, alleged the governor of shielding the Speaker from impeachment over the purported unilateral reordering of the N9.2 billion OSOPADEC budget and mismanagement of N44 million.

According to the lawmakers, who spoke through the chairman of the House Committee on Information, Olatunji Fabiyi, representing Odigbo constituency 1, the decision to remove the speaker is final and non-negotiable.

While describing the governor’s intervention as an unacceptable encroachment on legislative independence, Fabiyi insisted that the matter is strictly a private affair of the House and not subject to executive interference.

The assembly spokesperson further stated that the governor’s intervention could be interpreted as having ulterior motives, suggesting that the executive may have undisclosed interests in keeping Oladiji as speaker despite the resolution of more than two-thirds of the lawmakers.

Fabiyi also disclosed that the governor had initially requested a seven-day window for negotiations but later extended this to 14 days following closed-door meetings with the lawmakers, with the new deadline now set to expire next Sunday.

He said, “We have resolved not to hold a plenary until there is a change of speaker. For now, there is no development except that Mr. Speaker should just give way and allow another person to preside over the Ondo State House of Assembly.

“If he doesn’t resign, we will impeach him. If he fails to do the needful, we will do the needful. We still have seven days to go. Because I have the opinion that the government is calling some members so that they should backpedal on the issue of impeachment.

“‎So I don’t know the special interest that Mr. Governor is having. 21 members have signed an impeachment against Mr. Speaker. To me, I don’t know the interest of Mr. Governor. Unless the government is telling us that they have anything in common.

Maybe it’s the person that saddles him with the responsibility of behaving in that way. So if he doesn’t have anything of that nature, I see no reason. And he himself and the deputy speaker committed that error. No going back. Yes, that’s the resolution of members.

“‎So, I see no reason why somebody should be backing him at this level. I have spoken to Mr. Governor already. And we have made it very clear to Mr. Governor that we don’t have anything against him. Other than that, we don’t want our leadership. So there is no reason why somebody should continue to perpetrate himself over us when we don’t want him again. It’s a simple thing.

‎”‎ It is exclusively a private affair of the House. It’s not an executive affair. If there is no hidden agenda, I see no reason why Mr. Governor should be protecting one speaker. And if there is a hidden agenda, let him say it to the whole world now.

“‎It is the statutory right of the House member unless he doesn’t want the peace of that House. Somebody is leading us and is leading us astray. And we say we don’t want him again. Mr. Governor should just allow peace to reign in the House by allowing Mr. Speaker to step aside.

“‎It is the resolution of the whole house that Mr. Speaker should go. The resolution of the House: ‎At the initial stage, we thought it was seven days that Mr. Governor requested from us, but it is clear to us that he begged for 14 days, not seven days. So the 14 days will last till next Sunday.” (The Guardian)

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