TheCable

Olamide George, newly elected speaker of the Ondo house of assembly, has defended the impeachment of Bamidele Oloyelogun, his predecessor.

He said Oloyelogun alongside Ogundeji Iroju, former deputy speaker, allegedly spent over N1 billion meant for the assembly without approval.

George said this on Saturday during a news conference in Ibadan, Oyo state capital.

Oloyelogun and Iroju were impeached on Friday amid an uproar at the assembly, after which George and Faloju Abimbola were immediately sworn-in as the speaker and deputy speaker respectively.

George alleged that there was evidence of gross misconduct, abuse of power and incompetence levelled against the two former presiding officers.

He said since Friday, his family members and deputy have been threatened over the impeachment, calling on the president to save democracy from collapse.

“It is an open secret that N1.3bn was approved and released for the 2018 budget of the assembly. The former speaker and deputy speaker jointly expended over a billion in the first quarter of 2018 without approval,” he said.

“This is the height of corruption. We cannot condone it. It is unacceptable to the people of Ondo whom we are representing and that’s why we chose the path of honour to partner with Buhari to flush corruption out of Ondo.

“We are duly elected members of the state assembly, acting within the confines of the constitutional duties at plenary.

“Surprisingly, the impeached speaker led to the assembly, Mr Gbenga Adeyanju; the state commissioner of police, Mr Ade Adetimehin, state APC chairman, Mr Jacob Adebo, state chairman, NURTW, about 50 heavily armed officers and thugs.

“They invaded the assembly and assaulted honourable members, assembly staff, journalists and visitors to the assembly complex.”

Abimbola, the new deputy speaker, corroborated George’s claims and called on Ibrahim Idris, inspector-general of police, to redeploy the commissioner of police from the state over alleged bias.