Members of the Ekiti State House of Assembly has appealed to Governor Ayo Fayose not to endanger the lives of its members by peddling unfounded allegations that it is planning to impeach him.
Noting that they nursed no such plans either individually or collectively, the lawmakers said such allegation might expose them to attacks.
Speaking yesterday at a briefing attended by 16 of the 19 All Progressives Congress (APC) lawmakers, including the Speaker, Adewale Omirin, Churchill Adedipe, who chaired the event, said: “Our primary role is to use the Assembly to advance the course of the state’s development.
“We have nothing to do with the pedestrian engagements going round now in Ekiti. The governor has been saying he is interested in developing the state and this has been our focus here for three and a half years.
“Fayose should work with us, not with political jobbers, not with those interested in stoking embers of mayhem, unrest and discord. This Assembly is interested in partnering you (Fayose) once it is in the interest of the state.
“We have been accused of collecting N50 million each; the Speaker was said to have taken N100 million to remove the governor.
“We are not planning that and we will not do so. I once said on EKTV (Ekiti State Television) that this is a season of drama and many of it will still come,” Adedipe said.
The Majority Leader added: “For two days now, there have been several attacks on members, especially those from APC. This meeting was called for us to react to some of the developments.
“First, we witnessed here in the Assembly intense intrigues to remove the Speaker but it is not our tradition to change the Speaker when government changes.
“Moreso, there are constitutional ways to do that. APC members have no interest in changing the House’s leadership.”
Adedipe said the lawmakers travelled to Lagos State to meet with the party leadership.
He said the journey was to fine- tune strategies towards the October 29 national convention.
“We need to state that APC will hold its convention on October 29. If they are worried about happenings in APC, they can join the party so that the game of guesses and insinuations will be left out.
“There is no reason why we cannot go to Lagos to see our leaders. National elections are around the corner. There is need to put our house in order before next year. And so there is nothing wrong in going to Lagos to confer with our leaders.
“No one discussed how to remove Fayose as he had not even done anything. The administration just came on board. They want to lie against us to expose us to dangers of harassment and assault.
“This briefing was called to enable us to clarify issues. We have seen that in Ekiti for sometime now there have been strange developments and APC members will not fold their arms to see things go out of hands. As journalists, we need to make you hear our own side of the story,” Adedipe said.
Deputy Speaker Taiwo Orisalade noted that the allegation of participating in the impeachment move against the governor “was most untrue and unfair on me”.
“I was away from the country. I travelled on October 17 and came back on October 22. There is no point taking Ekiti down the doldrums. Politics is no battle but a game. Ekiti needs us in facing the challenges.”
Omirin said the present administration need not fear the Assembly.
“George Bush Jnr ruled America for eight years and he did not have majority of the congress on his side. In Nasarawa today, we have the same scenario as we have in Ekiti.
His words: “I am a medical doctor with 29 years experience. The so-called filling station has not started operating. No law says I should not invest. I am a law-abiding citizen and I know the law.”
