Ondo Assembly crisis: We only sat 4 times in 7 months — Aggrieved lawmakers

…Allegations are baseless — Embattled Speaker By Dayo Johnson AKURE— THE crisis rocking the Ondo State House of Assembly has deepened as 21 of 26 lawmakers, yesterday, alleged that only four plenary sessions were held in seven months under the embattled Speaker, Mr Olamide Oladiji. The aggrieved lawmakers have suspended legislative business and asked the Speaker to resign over N44 million allegedly linked to the reordering of the Ondo State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission, OSOPADEC, budget. The Assembly spokesperson, Olatunji Fabiyi, who confirmed the infrequent sittings, said the development hampered legislative activities and deepened frustration within the House.

The 21 lawmakers, who have signed an impeachment notice, also suspended plenary indefinitely.They insisted that legislative business will not resume until the Speaker resigns. One of the lawmakers told newsmen that the Assembly has been unable to discharge its constitutional responsibilities due to frequent tensions. He alleged that the Speaker often delayed sittings whenever disagreements emerged.The aggrieved lawmakers, who spoke in confidence, said: “We have had only four plenary sittings since January.

We are not on recess, yet the House has hardly sat. This issue has been going on for more than three or four months. “Whenever he notices there are issues, he will not call plenary.

“He waits until the tension has died down before calling the House to sit, sometimes after a month. “Sometimes he travels and no meeting is called at all. We are not on recess, but the House remains inactive.

“When issues came up in November and December, we barely had meetings. Once there was a disagreement, the House effectively went quiet until members resumed much later.” Also speaking, the Chairman of the House Committee on Information, Mr Olatunji Fabiyi, lamented the infrequent sittings under the embattled speaker. Fabiyi said: “We have our system of sitting of House.

We can do parliamentary meetings; it’s part of the meetings. He is not the person that is calling for parliamentary meetings. “The Majority Leader has the statutory right to call for parliamentary meetings.