Major government activities were paralysed in Ondo State as the Governor, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko, his Deputy, Alhaji Abdulazeez Oluboyo initiated negotiations to
reconcile feuding lawmakers who mustered an eighteen member majority coalition to impeach the speaker of the House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Jumoke Akindele. There are twenty six lawmakers in Ondo State House of Assembly, majority of whom have now voted to sweep Jumoke Akindele aside with other principal officials.
The impeachment of Akindele was predicated on character flaws and alleged poor performance on the job as the leader of the state legislature.
But women groups have started marching on the hallowed chambers at Igbatoro Road, Akure, although it was deserted for the best part of Wednesday. Apart from an unusual presence of security operatives in numbers larger than what used to be posted for routine assignments.
A group of protesters led by Mrs. Olamide Falana alleged that the embattled Speaker, Jumoke Akindele, was a victim of male chauvinism as they claimed that “the amorphous offences” reeled against her were unsubstantiated and were never investigated.
Mrs. Falana on behalf of her group “Women Must Count”, said the impeached Speaker must be reinstated within twenty four hours.
Mrs. Falana and other members of the protesting group were livid that the lawmakers who hatched the plot for Akindele’s removal made an anti-thetical choice of the International Day for Women, in which several leaders pledged commitment to gender parity to “strike at the consciousness of women in Ondo State”.
In Mrs. Falana’s words: “Hon. Jumoke Akindele must be reinstated. We are here to say that women are being cheated. Even when we fight and resist such injustices, the men always have a way of trying to push us out. When one looks at the document signed by eighteen members of the House of Assembly, all the allegations are frivolous”.
The article of impeachment against the speaker reads:
Tongues have started wagging that there are tell-tales of the unseen hand of Governor Mimiko in the intrigues and subterfuge that have swept Akindele away. When a former lawmaker, Mr. Tunji Dairo, who represented Owo Constituency II alleged the same crimes that have now led to Akindele’s removal in the last House, he was suspended sine die. Mr. Dairo was in the bad books of the governor. Those who are now in the echelon of the current mutiny against Akindele are known loyalists of Mimiko.
Hon. Ogundeji Iroju who has been pronounced as the new Speaker, his Deputy, Ayodele Arowele, representing Owo I, Siji Akindiose, Ade Adeniyi and Olamide nGeorge, all Mimiko’s men, are seen as pointers to the complicity of Mimiko in the “Akindele must go” drama.
The feuding lawmakers and Governor Mimiko were in a closed door meeting on Wednesday. The governor initially sent one of his assistants to tell journalists that their presence would not be required at the meeting which held at Government House, Alagbaka, Akure. However, when the Governor saw that members of the media would not bulge, he personally came out and told the Commissioner for Information, Mr. Kayode Akinmade, to talk to the press to take their leave.
As a result of the order from the governor, journalists descended on the House of Assembly and discovered that the massive parliament building had been deserted, principal officers disappeared and security operatives took firm guard to ensure the safety of lives and public property.
It was not certain which group of lawmakers had the authentic mace, the symbol of the people’s power in the legislative body.