Ondo Lawmakers Resume After Seven-week Assembly Closure
By Ige Olugbenga
The Ondo State House of Assembly is set to re-open on Monday after being sealed off for seven weeks by the Nigeria Police following a face-off between two factions of the House.
The crisis started when some of the State’s lawmakers impeached the former Speaker, Jumoke Akindele, and other principal officials of the House over alleged financial impropriety on January 27. Malachi Coker was installed as the Acting Speaker.
On Monday morning, lawmakers loyal to Malachi resumed at the Assembly while members in support of Akindele were absent.
Coker insisted in an earlier interview that the impeachment of the former Speaker was valid noting that 20 out of the 26 members of the Assembly signed the impeachment notice.
“For clarification, it takes 18 members to sign the impeachment notice, while 10 members can sit in the Assembly to pronounce it and this time around 20 members signed the impeachment notice.
“About seven members backed out after they had signed the impeachment notice following pressure from the powers that be.
“We all plan the impeachment together, but as human beings, some claimed they were not in the Assembly when the impeachment was to be carried out,’’ the acting speaker said.
