Thugs disrupt Ondo Assembly’s bid to impeach Speaker

An attempt to impeach Ondo State House of Assembly Speaker Olamide Oladiji was disrupted by the appearance of suspected political thugs. Lawmakers were reportedly moving to impeach Oladiji over allegations of financial misconduct, specifically the diversion of N44 million meant for the Ondo State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission. The aggrieved legislators had reportedly given the Speaker a deadline to resign or face impeachment proceedings.

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the man is gone already.

However, the impeachment bid was unsuccessful on Thursday when three unknown men, alleged to be political thugs, appeared at the Assembly complex. Police intervention was required to remove the men. Despite the disruption, some legislators continued with a parliamentary meeting, vowing to proceed with the impeachment. One legislator, speaking anonymously, stated that the Speaker had sent thugs to prevent the plenary session, but their plan failed and the impeachment would still occur.

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He (the embattled Speaker) sent thugs to the Assembly to attack us, but he was disappointed. We sent them out, but we did not hold plenary again. But we will still meet to impeach him.

The Assembly has been in crisis for weeks, with 21 out of 26 members reportedly signing a notice for impeachment. The move was reportedly stalled due to interventions by Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa and the leadership of the All Progressives Congress. Oladiji has denied the allegations, asserting that no such incident occurred and that the matter had been resolved. He claimed the men present were from his constituency and had no intention of disrupting activities, insisting there was no ongoing impeachment process.

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We have been hearing news that we have abandoned the process. This is a lie and misinformation. We are still on it; he can’t be our Speaker again.