The assembly complex is under tight security as armed police officers were on Monday stationed around the legislative building.
Some lawmakers in the Ekiti State House of Assembly have commenced a closed-door session in the Assembly complex.
The assembly complex is under tight security as armed police officers were on Monday stationed around the legislative building.
The closed-door session is connected to the leadership crisis in the House of Assembly. However, the number of lawmakers in the complex could not be ascertained at the time of filing this report.
Last Wednesday, SaharaReporters reported that the police invaded the House of Assembly over an alleged security threat to prevent the new Speaker of the House, Gboyega Aribisogan, from taking charge.
But featuring on a Channels TV programme 'Sunday Politics', Aribisogan confirmed that the police invasion of the House was part of the plot to impeach him.
SaharaReporters also earlier reported that Aribisogan accused former Governor Kayode Fayemi of lodging seven lawmakers in a hotel to plot his impeachment.
Aribisogan also accused Fayemi of being behind the crisis in the House of Assembly and sponsoring some disgruntled lawmakers and armed thugs to impeach him.
The newly elected Speaker said seven out of the 26 lawmakers in the Assembly loyal to Fayemi would move to impeach him on Monday (today).
SaharaReporters had reported that Aribisogan was elected as the new Speaker of the Assembly last Tuesday after defeating Mrs. Olubunmi Adelugba from Emure-Ekiti in a keenly contested election.
However, following an alleged intelligence report over a planned invasion by some unidentified thugs, the Commissioner of Police (CP), Adesina Moronkeji, reportedly ordered the Assembly to be shut while workers were ordered to return home, the day after Aribisogan was elected as Speaker.
Armed policemen were stationed at strategic locations in the House to prevent the purported invasion and breakdown of law and order.
SaharaReporters also earlier reported that sources identified Fayemi as being behind the crisis because his candidate, Adelugba lost to Aribisogan, the candidate of the state governor, Oyebanji. It was reported that Fayemi had hoped Adelugba would win so that he could have control of the legislature even while he is out of office.
Regarding the police invasion of the Assembly complex last Wednesday, a source told SaharaReporters that it was all a ploy to disrupt Aribisogan’s reign as the Speaker.
“Fayemi has prevented Aribisogan from taking charge using the police," a source said last Wednesday.
“The commissioner of police claimed they were checking the building for ‘bombs’ and that there was a threat. A certain Superintendent of Police, Marcus Ogundola is the main man Fayemi is using to prevent the Speaker from taking charge,” another source had said.
Ogundola was the commander of the notorious unit of the Nigeria Police Force, the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) before it was disbanded in 2020 after #EndSARS protests.
SARS was notorious for brutality, extrajudicial killings, and human rights abuses.
Former Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, on October 11, 2020, announced the disbandment of the police unit following nationwide protests over the police unit's atrocities.
SaharaReporters also reported that last Sunday, Fayemi summoned top politicians in the state to his house and categorically told them to support Adelugba for the vacant position. He, however, failed to invite the governor to the gathering where the plot was being made to technically give himself a third term in office by retaining control of the House.
Fayemi and Oyebanji, whom he supported to succeed him in office are already at loggerheads less than a month after the latter took the oath of office.
“Fayemi summoned Ekiti politicians to his house on Sunday and imposed a speaker on them, Adelugba. In fact, the speaker he selected took a priest to the House of Assembly, dry-cleaned her Speaker’s robe and fumigated the Assembly complex.
“But Fayemi did not invite the governor who is now at loggerheads with him over the messy state he left the state’s treasury,” a source told SaharaReporters after Fayemi’s plot to impose Adelugba on the lawmakers failed.
In his interview with Channels TV, Aribisogan said, “When Fayemi called us to his residence and said he wanted us to support Hon Adelugba, I stood up to say that could not be done by fiat or by imposition; that we had leaders that we had to consult and that we would get back to them. Ordinarily, we should be looking at the constitution and the standing order of the House.”
He said Fayemi has not congratulated him since his emergence as the new Speaker and that he did not reply to a text message he sent to him at the weekend.
Aribisogan was elected as the new Speaker of the House of Assembly following the death of the late Speaker, Funminyi Afuye.