The ongoing move to impeach the Speaker of the Ondo State House of Assembly, Olamide Oladiji, suffered a fresh setback on Thursday after suspected political thugs disrupted proceedings at the Assembly complex.
The men reportedly arrived at the complex shortly before lawmakers were expected to begin plenary to commence the impeachment process. Police officers later intervened and ordered them out of the premises.
The planned plenary did not hold, but the lawmakers proceeded with a parliamentary meeting within the complex.
A member of the House, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the meeting focused on the removal of Oladiji and insisted that the impeachment process remained ongoing.
The Chairman of the House Committee on Information, Olatunji Fabiyi, also dismissed reports that the lawmakers had abandoned the process, saying, “We are still on it; he can’t be our Speaker again.”
The crisis follows an impeachment notice reportedly signed by 21 of the Assembly’s 26 members over alleged financial misconduct involving N44 million linked to the reordering of the budget of the Ondo State Oil-Producing Areas Development Commission (OSOPADEC). The allegations have not been independently established.
The lawmakers had previously demanded that Oladiji resign or face impeachment, although efforts by Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa and the All Progressives Congress leadership to resolve the dispute have stalled the process.
Oladiji, however, denied sending thugs to the Assembly. He said the three men were youth leaders from his constituency whom he had invited to collect recruitment forms and who were unaware of the crisis in the House.
He also maintained that the impeachment issue had been resolved through the intervention of the governor and party leaders, insisting that there was no ongoing impeachment process.
The conflicting positions suggest that the leadership crisis in the Assembly remains unresolved.
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