Safety, security concerns as Ekiti Assembly impeachment saga worsens

ABIODUN NEJO writes on the necessity of security agencies and the Ekiti State governor, Biodun Oyebanji, to intervene quickly in the Ekiti Assembly crisis to avoid a bloodbath over the allegations of threat to lives being made by both sides in the squabble

If the threats to lives allegation being made by the two sides vying for the speakership of the Ekiti State House of Assembly are anything to go by, the country’s security agencies and the state governor, Biodun Oyebanji, must act quickly to prevent bloodshed in the state.

The two gladiators, the recently-impeached Mr Gboyega Aribisogan and Mrs Olubunmi Adelugba are raising the alarm over threats to their lives and those of the lawmakers on their sides.

Aribisogan was elected Speaker of the Assembly on Tuesday, November 15, 2022, by 15 of the Assembly’s 25 members to succeed the late speaker, Funminiyi Afuye, who died on October 19.

Shortly after, some lawmakers sat in the plenary on Monday, November 21 and elected Adelugba as speaker, having announced Aribisogan’s impeachment.

A hint about the threats to lives and property in the Assembly was given by the police on Wednesday morning, the day after Aribisogan’s emergence, when the police invaded it, evacuated the staff and sealed off the Assembly.

The Police Public Relations Officer, Ekiti State Command, Sunday Abutu, had said police intervention was in view of intelligence that some hoodlums had plotted to attack the legislative house.

Meanwhile, Aribisogan, who said the police in the state had questions to answer over their role in the Assembly crisis, raised alarm over an alleged threat to his life and that of the six legislators backing him who had been purportedly suspended by the Adelugba group.

He said, “I am not afraid of death but I am only telling the whole world that they are after my life. I have called on and am restating the call for the Inspector-General of Police, Alkali Baba Usman to give protection to me and some of my colleagues who are being harassed all over the place.

“The police are no longer protecting me. I have called the Commissioner of Police in Ekiti State, Moronkeji Adesina since Tuesday night when I suspected that some people around my house were about to assassinate me. He has refused to pick up my calls. I have sent text messages to him but he has not replied.

“I have reported to the Director, the Department of State Service, and I have informed the media that my life is not safe owing to the current situation in which I find myself. I am not afraid of death and I am not afraid of whatever anybody is sending to me.”

The Adelugba group also raised the alarm on Thursday that Aribisogan and others in his group were security threats to them, calling on security agencies in the state to urgently invite and investigate Aribisogan and the others over threats to members’ lives.

The Assembly, presided over by Adelugba, in a five-point resolution passed at plenary on Thursday, also resolved that Aribisogan should be made “to sign an undertaking that nothing untoward will happen to members and that the resolution is transmitted to the governor of the state, Mr Biodun Oyebanji, for necessary action.”

The lawmakers called on the security agencies to address the allegation before it got out of hand.

The Deputy Speaker, Hakeem Jamiu, who recounted his personal experience since the matter began, alleged that Aribisogan and his cronies had been threatening him even though he was only performing his constitutional duties as the deputy speaker of the House.

Some senior advocates from the state on Wednesday, called on Governor Oyebanji as the chief security officer of the state, to move swiftly before the leadership crisis in the state legislative arm degenerated into physical attacks and the loss of lives.

The SANs, which included Aare Afe Babalola, Chief Wole Olanipekun, Dele Adesina, Olu Daramola, Femi Falana, Dayo Akinlaja, and Gboyega Oyewole, issued a statement titled, “Ekiti State House of Assembly Impeachment Saga: This constitutional and democratic rascality must stop henceforth”

They said, “Be that as it may, we plead with our humble and respected governor to appreciate the fact that, having been sworn in as the governor of the state, he automatically translates to the Chief Executive Officer of the state, and by extension, the buck stops at his table.

“His silence in the face of the apparent threat to peace, order, good governance, and harmony in the state is not the best, to put it mildly, and respectfully. Truth be told, he is the one, rather than the political marauders, that will be held responsible for any breakdown of law and order in the state.

“All said, we unreservedly and unequivocally condemn what is presently at play in the Ekiti State House of Assembly. It is legally and morally unjustified and must be deprecated by anyone with a sense of fairness and decency.

“In light of this position, we hereby call on all members of the Ekiti State House of Assembly to return to the path of peace, honour, and dignity by allowing the elected speaker, Hon. Aribisogan to continue in office without let or hindrance. Anything short of this would amount to persevering in constitutional error and political rascality.”

But the Adelugba-led lawmakers, whose election was irreversible, snapped, saying the legal luminaries were on their own, especially that the lawmakers “felt a sense of injustice by the one-sided opinion and biased intervention of the legal luminaries.

“All sides to a conflict must be heard, and only then can justice be seen to have been done,” they said.

The Assembly, in a statement by the Chairman, the House Committee on Media and Publicity, Adeoye Aribasoye, titled, ‘Ekiti State House of Assembly is peaceful; Aribisogan’s impeachment is legal and constitutional,” said, “It is unfortunate that our elder statesmen did not hear from the side of the new speaker and the remaining 16 members who impeached the former speaker, Aribisogan and elected Adelugba.

Aribasoye, who stated that the lawyers’ advice that Adelugba, who was duly elected by 17 members, should stop parading herself as the Assembly Speaker, “is unwarranted, and we believe this is based on wrong information by the impeached speaker.

“We wish to restate that peace has returned to the Ekiti State House of Assembly since the pathologically rebellious and inordinately ambitious speaker was impeached and suspended alongside his cohorts.

“We thank our legal luminaries for their opinions but we have restored orderliness to the House. Our legal luminaries can rest assured that we will call on them whenever we need their counsel,” the Assembly stated.

The All Progressives Congress, in a statement by its state publicity secretary, Segun Dipe, also faulted the position of the senior lawyers, saying, “By and large, the neutrality of these wise men is questionable, and we are questioning it having relied heavily on the elders’ version of just one party in the proverbial wicked act, who judged based on one-sided narration.”

However, the Social Democratic Party in the state threw its weight behind Afe Babalola, Wole Olanipekun, and others, saying, “We condemn in entirety the show of shame in the hallowed chamber of the Ekiti State House of Assembly recently leading to the unlawful and shameful removal of Aribisogan as the Speaker.

SDP State Public Relations Officer, Gani Salau, in a statement titled, “We stand by the resolution of the eminent Ekiti legal icons on Ekiti Assembly,” said, “We will not fold our arms and allow a few individuals with their parochial interests destroy the hard-earned fame Ekiti is known for throughout the world.

“The SDP in Ekiti State hereby calls on the APC to stop their show of shame and respect the sanctity of the rule of law and justice, which is the hallmark of good governance and democracy we now enjoy in Ekiti State, rather than engaging in shameless activities that can heighten tension in the land,” Salau stated.

Also, the People Democratic Party’s former state chairman, Chief Gboyega Oguntuwase, said, “Ekiti is paying for voting wrongly. APC can never do things right. Once they had voted and a speaker had emerged, they ought to let it go. But these people will not do anything right.

“Ekiti is also paying for the indecision of the PDP to work together. All of us should be held responsible for the indiscipline and chaos in the Assembly, which is avoidable if people are reasonable and follow due process.

“Even if you look at everything they have been doing, if you look at the primary that produced Dr Kayode Fayemi as an APC candidate, then look at the one that brought about Oyebanji, they are full of controversies. They will not respect due process. Look at what is happening in the state assembly now—the state is paying for voting wrongly,” Oguntuwase said.

However, the Special Adviser to Governor Oyebanji on Political and Inter-Party Affairs, Chief Jide Awe, who said the Assembly crisis remained an internal matter since all the lawmakers were APC members, warned against escalating it and threatening the lives of others.

Awe said, “Though it has generated outside attention, it is still within the purview of the party, and we are taking steps on it. The executive arm of government will not dabble into issues before the legislature.

“But after all is said and done, the governor is still the head of the party, and he is the governor of the state. So, if anything is going wrong, it is our duty to reduce it to the barest minimum, which we are doing.

“We have been telling our people on both sides that this issue of assassination should not be brought into the matter at all. The issue at stake belongs to the legislature of Ekiti State, and they are all members of the APC, meaning it is an internal matter that we are going to resolve amicably, and we are resolving it.”

(Punch)