In news reports, the Ondo State House of Assembly passed a vote of no confidence in speaker Olamide Oladiji for endorsing governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa’s electoral aspirations. In a statement on Wednesday, 13 March, 13 lawmakers including the House Majority Leader, Oluwole Ogunmolasuyi, disowned the speaker, saying he spoke for himself and not for the Assembly. It may be recalled that Aiyedatiwa on Tuesday formally declared his intention to contest the November 12 Ondo State governorship election on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC). At the declaration ceremony in Akure, the speaker of the Assembly, when allowed to speak, said the entire Assembly was behind the governor to win the upcoming election. Oladiji said, “We have about 18 members of the Ondo State House of Assembly here with Governor Aiyedatiwa. The Ondo House is for Aiyedatiwa, even those who are not APC members, are in the same struggle with us. My advice to our leaders across the 18 local governments is, to go back to your local governments and do the needful. Let the reconciliation continue; come April 24 (the primary), we will deliver for Honourable Aiyedatiwa. On behalf of the honorable members of the Ondo State House of Assembly, Mr Governor, congratulations in advance.” Lawmakers, however, rejected the endorsement of Oladiji on Wednesday with thirteen of them issuing a statement saying the stamp of approval bestowed upon Aiyedatiwa was without their consensus.
The lawmakers who signed the statement were the majority leader, Oluwole Ogunmolasuyi; parliamentary secretary, Moyinolorun Ogunwumij; chief whip, Oluwarotimi Fasonu; minority leader, Olajide Oguntodu; and the deputy minority leader, Raymond Daodu, Akinsuroju Nelson, Akomolafe Temitope, Agbulu Akeem, Christopher Ayebusiwa, Atinuke Witherspoon, Biola Oladapo, Afe Felix, and Ifabiyi Olatunji.
The statement reads “At no point did the Ondo State House of Assembly deliberate the governorship ambition of any of the numerous aspirants that have indicated their interests to contest for the state’s 2024 governorship election, let alone agree to support any aspirant. Mr. Speaker lacks the moral and legal authorities to speak or pledge support for any governorship aspirant on behalf of the House without the explicit consent of members. Mr. Speaker has, by his unconventional and false public declaration, misrepresented the honourable House, and in so doing, brought the 10th Ondo State House of Assembly into disrepute, needless controversies, and breaching our confidence in his leadership. Consequently, we hereby pass a vote of no-confidence in the leadership of the Speaker, Rt Hon Olamide Oladiji.”
In 2023, the Assembly battled the governor in a plot to impeach him over alleged misconduct as the deputy governor/acting governor of the state. The conflict, however, subsided in December when Governor Aiyedatiwa became the state governor after the demise of his principal, Governor Rotimi Akeredolu. Reacting to the Assembly division on Wednesday, the Lucky Aiyedatiwa Campaign Organization team called for peace. The organization’s director of media and publicity, Kayode Fasua, described the governor as a man of peace. He said, “Mr Governor is a man of peace. He always wants peace in the state. We are appealing to the state Assembly to be peaceful and work on the way to move the state forward. Our Assembly members have been working in harmony, there should be no crisis of any sort, so we are calling on them to be peaceful.” At the APC governorship primary scheduled for April 24, Aiyedatiwa will be slugging it out with other aspirants, such as a former governorship aspirant of the APC, Chief Olusola Oke; a former commissioner for finance, Mr. Wale Akinterinwa; a former member of the House of Representatives, Mayowa Akinfolarin; a former Secretary to the State Government, Mrs Oladunni Odu; and a former special adviser to Governor Akeredolu on Health, Prof Francis Faduyile; Senator Jimoh Ibrahim; Dr Paul Akintelure; Brig. Gen. Olamide Ohunyeye (RTD.), and a former chairman of the Ondo State Oil-producing Areas Development Commission, Mr Gbenga Edema.
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