Newly Elected Ondo Assembly Speaker, Deputy, Four Other Lawmakers Defect To APC

By Oluniyi Akintunde, Akure

The leadership crisis that rocked Ondo State House of Assembly for barely two months has finally been laid to rest as the two factional speakers; Hon Malachi Coker and Mrs Jumoke Akindele willingly stepped aside and Hon Bamidele Oleyelogun was elected the new Speaker on Monday.

Ondo Assembly speaker, Bamidele Oloyelogun

Oleyelogun who represents Ifedore state constituency in the House of Assembly emerged the Speaker having polled nine votes to defeat George Olamide of Akure North state constituency who had four votes.

The House also elected Hon Ogundeji Iroju as the deputy speaker.

Lawmakers who attended plenary were loyalists of the Coker’s faction, while loyalists of Mrs Akindele boycotted the plenary, claiming that they were not carried along.

While 13 lawmakers voted in the election that produced Oleyelogun, the 13 lawmakers loyal to Mrs Akindele claimed that they were not aware of the election.

It would be recalled that Mrs Akindele had recently resigned as the Speaker of the House, but her loyalists have since refused to attend plenary presided over by the former Speaker, Hon Coker.

Members of the Akindele’s faction who boycotted the plenary said the House does not sit on Mondays and Fridays, being the days set asidefor meetings of various committees of the House, hence their surprise with the development.

It was gathered that members of the House had at the weekend met withthe Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Legislative matters, Hon Taofeek Abdulsalam, while another meeting was scheduled to hold between the lawmakers and the Governor this week.

The Assembly had at the tail end of the administration of former Governor Olusegun Mimiko been engulfed in leadership crisis following allegation of N15Million fraud leveled against the ousted speaker, Mrs Akindele and the former deputy Speaker, Hon Fatai Olotu by 13 lawmakers.

The crisis prevented Mimiko from presenting the 2017 budget to the House as two persons; Coker and Mrs Akindele laid claim to the speakership of the House.

However, the new Speaker has announced his defection to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Also, the deputy speaker and two other lawmakers; Ayo Arowele and Segun Ajimotokin have defected from the PDP to APC.

Arowele and Ajimotokin who emerged the Majority Leader and chief whip of the House respectively said their decision to join the APC was due to the crisis in PDP.

Speaking at a press conference addressed at the cocoa conference hall of the Governor’s office in Akure, Oleyeloogun said it became necessary for him and his other colleagues to leave the PDP since the party has been fractionalized from the federal to state level.

He said: “We have been elected by the electorate to make good laws for the state. We cannot continue to remain in a party that is not settled for a long time, giving distraction to the elected political office holders, hence we decided to leave the party.”

Meanwhile, Ondo State House of Assembly has approved Governor Rotimi Akeredolu’s request for confirmation of caretaker chairmen in all the 18 Local Government Areas of the state.

The caretaker chairmen according to a letter sent to the House by the Governor through the Secretary to the State Government, Hon Ifedayo Abegunde will run the affairs of the councils for a period of six months.