Olamide George, the newly elected Speaker of the Ondo State House of Assembly, has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to rescue him and his colleagues from alleged reign of terror in the state.
George, alongside 17 other lawmakers, made the call at a news conference held in Ibadan, Oyo State on Saturday evening.
Bamidele Oloyelogun and Ogundeji Iroju, the Speaker and Deputy Speaker were impeached on Friday.
George and Faloju Abimbola were immediately sworn-in as the new Speaker and deputy speaker.
George said that the former speaker and his deputy were impeached over established evidences of gross misconduct, financial recklessness, abuse of power and incompetence levelled against them.
He alleged that since Friday, family members, he and his deputy were being threatened over the impeachment, calling on the president to save democracy from collapse.
“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,” he said.
George said that there were video and pictorial documentations of the alleged vandalization of cars and properties worth several millions of naira by thugs under the supervision of Adeyanju.
According to him, “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.
“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,”he added.
Abimbola, the new deputy speaker, corroborated George’s claims and called on Inspector General of Police to immediately redeploy the commissioner of police from the state, accusing him of bias.
He said that they are not safe with Adeyanju remaining the commissioner of police.
Abimbola said that the impeachment was carried out in line with constitutional provision which stipulated that such exercise could only be carried out by two-thirds of the members.
He stated that 18 out of the 26 lawmakers, which represented two-thirds carried out the impeachment, saying he has the 18 names and signatures of members who impeached them.
“The impeachment was in order. We have removed the inefficient speaker and deputy speaker from office and this act is completely irreversible,” he said.
A former speaker of the assembly, Olajumoke Akindele, who was allegedly assaulted in the mayhem unleashed at the assembly, called on the president and his wife, Hajia Aisha Buhari, to protect women in politics from molestation, intimidation and harassment which was meted to her on Friday.
“My family members, my colleagues and my dear life is no longer safe. I have been marked for assassination for standing against corruption,” she said.
The trio equally appealed to Governor Rotimi Akeredolu to allow the legislative arm of government to function independently without interference.
