‘He spends our money alone’ — lawmaker speaks on impeachment of Ogun speaker

Soneye Kayode, the lawmaker representing Obafemi Owode constituency, has spoken on the chain of events that led to the impeachment of Olakunle Oluomo as the speaker of the Ogun state house of assembly.

On Tuesday, 18 of the 26 members of the Ogun assembly ousted Oluomo as speaker.

Oludaisi Elemide was subsequently elected as the new speaker of the assembly.

Oluomo was impeached over allegations bordering on embezzlement of funds.

Speaking with journalists after the rancorous plenary, Kayode said members of the assembly did not want to elect Oluomo as speaker, but the leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC) felt that he should become speaker because of his experience.

The lawmaker accused Oluomo of embezzling monies meant for state lawmakers.

“The situation is that Oluomo will go everywhere; he will come to us as members and tell us that the governor has not approved any money… that we should manage things,” he said.

“We kept managing. We later found out that the governor had been giving us money. He takes a memo to the governor and gets money, but siphoned our money.”

Kayode said the impeachment of Oluomo has nothing to do with Dapo Abiodun, the governor of the state, adding that the governor does not interfere with the affairs of the legislature.

The lawmaker asked Oluomo to focus on his trial over alleged money laundering.

EFCC CASE

In September 2022, Oluomo was arrested by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over alleged financial malfeasance.

He was reportedly arrested at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos.

After the arrest, he was taken to the Lagos office of the anti-graft agency for questioning, after allegedly failing to honour summons of the commission.

Subsequently, Oluomo was arraigned at the federal high court sitting in Lagos over alleged money laundering to the tune of N2.475 billion.

He was arraigned alongside three others on an 11-count charge bordering on conspiracy, forgery, and money laundering.

The EFCC had told the court that the now ousted speaker stole the sum from the coffers of the Ogun state house of assembly.