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| Ekiti State Governor (Photo: The Nation) |
Ekiti
State Governor Ayo Fayose has reportedly frozen the accounts of the House of
Assembly. The Speaker, Dr Adewale Omirin, has condemned what he calls the
incessant blackmail and intimidation of the House by the government.
The Nation reports the Ekiti State Speaker said Fayose’s reactions to the refusal of the All Progressives Congress (APC)
members to join the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) were going beyond approved
standards of modern governance.
A
statement by his Special Adviser on Media, Wole Olujobi, said the latest
allegation of the demand of N135 million for the screening of
commissioner-nominees was a propaganda taken too far.
The
Speaker said the reports in the media were misleading and the House would not
be distracted from making quality laws for Ekiti people as done in the last
four years without asking for money.
The
statement said: “The standard practice is to present the list of the nominees
to plenary; the nominees will follow with the submission of their credentials.
They will be screened before confirmation.
“The
governor sent three names on Monday and the list was read that day. Since it
was a public document, we read the letter the second day at plenary.
“Nobody
submitted any credential. We don’t know the nominees. They have not submitted
their credentials for the appropriate committees to screen them. It is
surprising that the governor expects the House to confirm the nominees
immediately. This is strange in parliamentary conduct.”
Omirin
said the governor responded by freezing the bank accounts of the House of
Assembly.
“One
arm of government cannot close down the activities of the other. How can you
elevate intimidation and blackmail to an art of governance?
“The
chief judge was blackmailed that he took a bribe of N20million to stall hearing
on the local council development areas case and another alleged N200million to
reassign the E-11’s perjury case to Justice Olusegun Ogunyemi to return a
guilty verdict on the governor.
“After
the judiciary had been blackmailed to submission, it is now the turn of the
parliament to be brought to its knees by blackmailing members and freezing the
accounts of the House as if the House is a department in the Governor’s
Office.”
The
Speaker said the governor would have himself to blame if he continued in his
anti-democratic conduct.
“All
members mentioned in the bribery scandal would go to court to seek justice.
Ekiti radio and television managements would account for libel contained in
their broadcasts.
“All
those involved in concocting these damaging acts will be made to account for
their actions,” he said.
Omirin
said for pointing Fayose’s attention to the subsisting case on the local
government in court, police and PDP thugs yesterday ransacked the home of
Kayode Fasakin (Ekiti West Constituency II).
The
Speaker said the House would meet over “the reckless use” of the state
media to blackmail the lawmakers, even as he added that the Nigeria
Broadcasting Commission (NBC) would be put on notice on the reckless and
unprofessional use of the media to haunt the opposition.
But
Fayose’s Chief Press Secretary Idowu Adelusi dismissed the allegations.
He
said: “Governor Fayose has not ordered the freezing of the accounts of the
House of Assembly and neither has he asked anybody to insult or assault the
Speaker.
“The
Speaker should understand that today Fayose is his governor, and the office is
sacred, and he is the symbol of Ekiti people.
“If he in the name of
politics continues to denigrate that office, he is denigrating the Ekiti
people.”
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