Ekiti State Governor Ayo Fayose has allegedly frozen the accounts of the House of Assembly.

The Speaker, Dr Adewale Omirin, has condemned what he calls the incessant blackmail and intimidation of the House by the government.

He said Fayose’s reactions to the refusal of the All Progressives Congress (APC) members to join the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) were going beyond approved standards of modern governance.

A statement by his Special Adviser on Media, Wole Olujobi, said the latest allegation of the demand of N135 million for the screening of commissioner-nominees was a propaganda taken too far.

The Speaker said the reports in the media were misleading and the House would not be distracted from making quality laws for Ekiti people as done in the last four years without asking for money.

The statement said: “The standard practice is to present the list of the nominees to plenary; the nominees will follow with the submission of their credentials. They will be screened before confirmation.

“The governor sent three names on Monday and the list was read that day. Since it was a public document, we read the letter the second day at 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 immediately. This is strange in parliamentary conduct.”

Omirin said the governor responded by freezing the bank accounts of the House of Assembly.

“One arm of government cannot close down the activities of the other.How can you elevate intimidation and blackmail to an art of governance?

“The chief judge was blackmailed that he took a bribe of N20million to stall hearing on the local council development areas case and another alleged N200million to reassign the E-11’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.”

The Speaker said the governor would have himself to blame if he continued in his anti-democratic conduct.

“All members mentioned in the bribery scandal would go to court to seek justice. Ekiti radio and television managements would account for libel contained in their broadcasts.

“All those involved in concocting these damaging acts will be made to account for their actions,” he said.

Omirin said for pointing Fayose’s attention to the subsisting case on the local government in court, police and PDP thugs yesterday ransacked the home of Kayode Fasakin (Ekiti West Constituency II).

The Speaker said the House would meet over “the reckless use” of the state media to blackmail the lawmakers, even as he added that the Nigeria Broadcasting Commission (NBC) would be put on notice on the reckless and unprofessional use of the media to haunt the opposition.

But Fayose’s Chief Press Secretary Idowu Adelusi dismissed the allegations.

He said: “Governor Fayose has not ordered the freezing of the accounts of the House of Assembly and neither has he asked anybody to insult or assault the Speaker.

“The Speaker should understand that today Fayose is his governor, and the office is sacred, and he is the symbol of Ekiti people.

“If he, in the name of politics, continues to denigrate that office, he is denigrating the Ekiti people.”

•Credit: The Nation. Photo shows Governor Fayose.

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