Olamide Oladiji, speaker of the Ondo House of Assembly, has accused lawmakers who lost return tickets of the All Progressives Congress (APC) of being behind the plot to impeach him.
Oladiji has come under intense pressure to quit after some
members of the assembly accused him of diverting N44 million released by the
Ondo State Oil-Producing Areas Development Commission (OSOPADEC).
Twenty-one of the 26 lawmakers reportedly signed a notice
for his impeachment over allegations bordering on financial mismanagement.
The lawmakers alleged that the speaker failed to carry
members along in the disbursement of the money, which was said to be for the
reordering of the OSOPADEC 2026 budget.
They insisted that no plenary will hold in the assembly
until Oladiji resigns or is impeached.
‘THEY DON’T WANT ME BACK IN 2027’
Reacting on Wednesday, Oladiji said the campaign against him
was less about allegations of misconduct and more about political calculations
ahead of the next election cycle.
He said his opponents were uncomfortable with the
possibility of his returning as speaker should he win re-election in 2027,
claiming they believed Lucky Aiyedatiwa, governor of Ondo, still supports his
re-emergence.
“They don’t want me to come back as speaker in 2027. That is
just the major issue,” Oladiji said.
He described the allegations against him as politically
motivated, questioning why the complaints surfaced only after the conclusion of
the APC ticketing process.
“We are all politicians and we know all these complaints
they are giving. Have they been giving them in the past three years? Why now
during the electioneering period?” he queried.
He maintained that the assembly had enjoyed stability under
his leadership over the past three years, with no major internal crisis until
the current political disagreements.
Oladiji said the crisis had attracted the intervention of
leaders of the ruling APC and other stakeholders, expressing confidence that
ongoing reconciliation efforts would restore peace in the assembly.
“We are distinguished colleagues, and we have a way of
settling our issues. We have the leader of the party in the APC trying to wade
in, and we are working towards resolving the matter. By the grace of God, in
another one week it will become a thing of the past,” he said.
‘OLADIJI MUST GO’
However, Olatunji Fabiyi, chairman of the house committee on
information, dismissed the claims, insisting that the move to remove the
speaker had nothing to do with the APC primary elections or the fate of
lawmakers who failed to secure return tickets.
He said the lawmakers’ action was prompted by what he
described as repeated acts of misconduct, abuse of office and constitutional
violations allegedly committed by the speaker.
“He said some of us didn’t get return tickets. We thank him
for reminding us of that, but we have been watching him all along while he
carried on with his shenanigans,” he said.
“This is not about tickets. The speaker does not have the power to give anybody a ticket. The fact remains that some of us who are here are not fighting him because of tickets. He doesn’t have the power to give us tickets.”
The lawmaker accused Oladiji of unilaterally issuing a
resolution on the reordering of the state’s budget without the approval of the
house, describing the action as fraudulent.
“Is it the issue of tickets that made him forge the
resolution of the whole house? The budget is an appropriation over which the
house has constitutional responsibility,” he alleged.
“The speaker, alongside his deputy, turned himself into the
alpha and omega, sidelined other lawmakers and went ahead to issue a resolution
claiming the house had approved budget reordering. Is that not fraud?” he
queried.
Fabiyi also rejected the speaker’s claim that external
political interests were behind the crisis, alleging that Oladiji had earlier
accused Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, minister of interior, of sponsoring the lawmakers
opposed to him.
“When we first raised issues against him, he told the
governor that BTO was sponsoring us. Now he is saying it is because some of us
lost our tickets. Those are mere excuses,” he said.
Reaffirming the lawmakers’ position, Fabiyi insisted their
demand for the speaker’s removal remained unchanged.
“Our resolution still stands that Oladiji must go. Anybody
backing him at this stage should be asked what he is benefiting from the house.
Whoever is supporting him is an accomplice,” he added.
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