The 26 members of the Ondo State House of Assembly have been divided over an alleged plan to impeach the Speaker, Hon. Olamide Oladiji, due to the controversy surrounding the supplementary budget before the Assembly.
But the Leader of the Assembly, Chief Olatunji Oshati, dispelled insinuations of uneasy calm in the house over the plan to impeach the Speaker of the Assembly, Olamide Oladiji. 12 lawmakers, led by Hon.
Temitope Akomolafe, had passed a vote of no confidence in Oladiji. The resolution issued on Thursday night invoked Section 92(4)(c) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), which empowers the legislature to remove a Speaker for acts deemed to undermine public trust or violate official responsibilities.
However, Oshati denied knowledge of any impeachment move against Oladiji, as that was never a topic of discussion at either the plenary sittings or any of the House parliamentary meetings.
Oshati assured the people of Ondo State of the House’s commitment to people-centered legislation that must ensure the general interest of our people.
The lawmaker maintained that democracy would be regarded as healthy when we sometimes disagree to agree. He said the disagreement among lawmakers is part of democracy. However, he said the reason for the disagreement should always be reasonable.
He promised that the house would use its conflict resolution machinery to resolve whatever may have caused this. The 12 lawmakers who passed the vote of no confidence in the Speaker accused him of gross misconduct and diversion of funds meant for public hearings.
However, sources said the major problem was with the supplementary budget before the Assembly. According to a source, Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa signed the 2025 Appropriation Bill of #698 billion into law, only to send another supplementary budget to the Assembly less than two months before the end of the fiscal year.
The source said the government has not explained the budget performance of the ongoing budget to the lawmakers before sending another supplementary budget.
He said in the House of Assembly, the budget performance for the year was only 22 percent while some government agencies have less than 10 percent performance.
Also, some of the lawmakers were said to be aggrieved because of the lack of ‘previous discussion’ before such a budget could be brought to the Assembly.
The supplementary budget of #531.7 billion is almost equal to the appropriation budget for the year The lawmakers, in a resolution, invoked Section 92(4)(c) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), which empowers the legislature to remove a Speaker for acts deemed to undermine public trust or violate official responsibilities.
The signatories, including Jide Oguntodu, Temitope Akomolafe, Fatai Atere, Toyin Japhet, Raymond Daodu, Samuel Ifabiyi, Babatunde Fasonu, Princess Oluwatosin Ogunlowo, Afe Felix, Nelson Akinsuroju, Prince Akinruntan Abayomi, and Stephen Abitogun, passed a Vote of No Confidence on Speaker Olamide Oladiji.
