The Ekiti State governor, Ayo Fayose, has
denied that the speaker of the state House of
Assembly, Adewale Omirin, was impeached
Monday by lawmakers loyal to him.
Ten out of 26 members of the House
reconvened Monday without the speaker or
the deputy, and named a speaker pro
tempore, before approving nominations sent
in by the governor.
The lawmakers ratified the appointment of
three commissioners, 12 advisers and
reconstituted the caretaker committees of the
16 Local Government Areas in the state.
The approvals fueled reports Mr. Omirin had
been technically removed from office.
All the lawmakers in attendance were
members of the governor’s Peoples Democratic
Party, PDP.
The All Progressives Congress, APC, said seven
lawmakers attended the session, and
lambasted the police for providing them fully
protection despite clearly not meeting the
required quorum for the sitting.
During the sitting, the members nominated
one of its members, Dele Olugbemi, as the
Speaker pro-tempore, an action described by
some as a technical impeachment of the
substantive Speaker.
But Governor Fayose said in a statement that
the lawmakers were breached no laws, and
did not impeach the substantive speaker.
“Our attention has been drawn to the news
aired by the AIT that the Ekiti State Speaker
has been impeached by 7 members,” said his
spokesperson, Idowu Adelusi.
“Well, I am not supposed to respond to the
lies aired by the AIT purposely to misinformed
members of the public because the legislature
is another arm of government and whatever
they do in their chamber is their business and
the executive arm has nothing to do with that.
The statement said: “If they remove their
leaders and appoint new ones, that is their
business. However, to educate the public, no
speaker was removed.”
The governor said nine members of the House
sat to and that the House’s standing order
allows a quorum of 9 members to sit and
appoint a presiding officer.
He criticized the APC, which had earlier
lambasted the lawmakers for their action.
“APC are only being hypocritical. APC-
controlled state of Edo, we all know what is
happening there,” he said. “For over a year
now, the state governor has prevented the
lawmakers from sitting.
“He said he was going to renovate the
Assembly Complex and PDP lawmakers have
been meeting in the dilapidated complex,
while APC lawmakers are meeting at the
Government House.
“Also another APC state of Rivers, the
judiciary has been shut down for over a year
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