The reign of Taofik Olawale Abdulsalam as Speaker of the Ondo State House of Assembly came to an abrupt end yesterday, as he was impeached by 18 of the 26 members of the Assembly.

The impeachment gale also swept away his deputy, Mayowa Akinfolarin, who had been the Deputy Speaker since 2003, and other officials.

In an unusual manner, the lawmakers converged as early as 8.am to carry out the internal coup, which finally led to the removal of principal officers of the House, including the Majority Leader.

The impeachment exercise was carried out amidst tight security, while journalists were barred from entering the Assembly complex. The motion for the removal of the Speaker was moved by one of his colleagues, Igbekele Bolodeoku, who before now, was the Chairman, House Committee on Information. Incidentally, Mr. Bolodeoku, who is representing Ese-Odo State Constituency, is a Peoples Democratic Party lawmaker, like Messrs Abdusalam and Akinfolarin. His motion was supported by 18 lawmakers who had earlier signed a petition calling for the removal of Mr. Abdulsalam.

At exactly 8.30 am, news of the resignation of the Speaker was broadcast by virtually all the radio and television stations in the state.

The announcement, which was sent via the Speaker’s telephone number, was sent to the news editors of Positive FM, Adaba FM, NTA Akure and the state-owned radio and television stations. The resignation news was flashed at regular intervals by these media organisations.

Mr. Abdusalam later told journalists he neither resigned nor was properly impeached. One of the eighteen lawmakers who had earlier signed the impeachment notice, Adams Adekanye, later backed out because he was not favoured to become the Speaker of the House.

Mr. Adakanye, who incidentally is from the northern senatorial district, like Abdulsalam, was shocked to his bone marrows when his colleagues resolved to pick Samuel Adesina, from Odigbo II constituency, to become the new Speaker of the House.

Mr. Adesina, who is otherwise known as ‘Imole’ among his colleagues, was picked because the zoning arrangement worked in his favour.

Before now, the political power sharing arrangement in the state was unbalanced because of the change in government, which saw the emergence of Olusegun Mimiko as the governor.

Mr. Mimiko is from the Central Senatorial District, while his deputy, Ali Olanusi, was from the Northern Senatorial District. The impeached Speaker also hails from the same senatorial district with Mr. Olanusi.

The impeachment of Abdulsalam restores the balance, as the new Speaker comes from the Southern Senatorial District.

Shortly after the impeachment, the 18 lawmakers moved to the Press Centre, Alagbaka, to address journalists about the latest development in the State Parliament.

The spokesperson of the lawmakers, labeled as G18, Mr. Bolodeoku, said the House decided to remove Abdulsalam because the members have lost confidence in his leadership style.

“In the spirit of sportsmanship, we have decided to dissolve all the entire leadership structure of the House and we have appointed a new Speaker,” he declared.

“The former Speaker, through the media organisations, announced his resignation as the Speaker as soft landing for himself. We have accepted his resignation in order to move the state forward.

“There was no allegation of fraud against the former leadership, but we as lawmakers, are not happy about the ineptitude nature of the leaders of the House. They are not moving the way that is expected of them.”

He also announced that the House was going on an indefinite recess till the new Speaker deems it fit to call members to resume.

Impeached speaker disagrees

But Mr. Abdulsalam has described the action taken by his colleagues as an illegality of the highest order. He also denied the report that he had tendered his resignation letter.

Mr. Abdulsalam, who addressed a press conference in company of ten lawmakers, said his puported removal was not in line with the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, which stipulates that the Speaker can only be removed by 2/3 majority votes.

He also accused some people of using his phone to send text messages of his resignation to various media organisations without his knowledge. Besides, Abdulsalam also stated that signatures of three members were scanned on the purported impeachment list.

“What happened today at the Ondo State House of Assembly is nothing but illegality of the highest order. Some of the members were not allowed to enter the House during the proceedings. The one who was later allowed in, I mean, Otitoju Atikase ,was bundled out of the House,” he said.

“I was shocked to hear in the news on some stations that I have resigned as the Speaker of the House. This purported message was never sent by me. I don’t know how some people got my phone and used it to send messages to radio and television stations.”

Mr. Abdulsalm also accused the state government of being the brain behind his purported removal. He said the way policemen were deployed to the House without the Speaker’s knowledge was a clear indication that government has a hand in the crisis.

“The whole event was covered by government media organisations; that is to tell you that the lawmakers were sponsored by the state government,” he said.

“The governor was never comfortable with my leadership style because I have always asked questions in the interest of the people of the state. The governor, a product of the rule of law, is now rubbishing the rule of law that brought him into power.”

He appealed to security agencies not to allow themselves to be used to disrupt the peaceful co-existence of the state, just as he also called for adequate security of members of his group.

Governor is surprised at change

Meanwhile, the Ondo State governor, Olusegun Mimiko, has expressed surprise at the change in the leadership of the State House of Assembly.

Mr. Mimiko, who expressed surprise during a visit to his office by the new Speaker, Samuel Adesina (Odigbo II), and sixteen other members of the Assembly and the Clerk of the House, Taye Dada, however, enjoined the House to ensure that the existing cordial relationship between his government and the PDP-controlled Assembly continue in the overall interest of the state.

“Honestly, this development came to us a surprise,” he said. “We have enjoyed a cordial relationship with the House and this can be seen in the speedy passage of the 2010 Budget. But the Clerk of the House has just told us all that have been done. Since what has been done was in the purview of the Legislative Arm of Government, we want to welcome Mr. Speaker on board and wish him a successful tenure of office and we hope that the cordial relationship that exists between us will continue in the interest of Ondo State.”

Mr. Abdulsalm emerged as the Speaker of the Ondo State House of Assembly on September 16, 2008 when the then Speaker, Bakkita Bello, representing Akoko-North West I, was removed from office.

Mr. Bolodeoku, who moved the motion then, was also the person who moved the motion yesterday.

Mr. Bello vacated his seat because 21 of the 25 members of the House unanimously passed a vote of no confidence on him as he was accused of incompetence, greed, and high-handedness.

Genesis of troubles

NEXT, however gathered that Mr. Abdulsalam’s problem started last year when he refused to sign the supplementary budget presented to the House by the executive. He was said to have insisted that the supplementary budget would not see the light of the day. This drew the wrath of the executive, which vowed to get him out of office at all cost.

It was gathered that Mr. Abdulsalam was even threatened with impeachment notice before he could bow to the pressure to sign the 2010 budget.

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