The 10th Ogun State House of Assembly is to be inaugurated on June 13 for yet another legislative period of four years.
After the March 18 House of Assembly election, some of the 26 lawmakers who sought reelection lost their bids to return to the House as they were defeated by the opposition party.
The election storm ‘blew away’ the Deputy Speaker, Akeem Balogun, who lost to the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Ogun Waterside. It also overwhelmed the Chief Whip, Atinuke Bello, who also lost to the PDP in Odogbolu.
The Speaker, Olakunle Oluomo narrowly escaped defeat as he defeated the PDP candidate with less than 1,000 votes, even though he lost a supplementary election held to conclude the process.
The media observes that the tenth Ogun Assembly has 17 lawmakers elected on the platform of the All Progressives Congress, APC,, while the PDP has nine. This keeps the APC in control of the House by having the majority.
With their inauguration on Tuesday, the lawmakers are expected to elect a Speaker, a Deputy Speaker and other presiding officers. Based on the strength of the APC lawmakers in the House, the election will practically be an APC affair, except for the position of the Minority Leader.
At the moment, The media gathered that the APC is putting pen to paper as it is about to conclude plans on who should be the presiding officers. The party, it was learnt, wants to have a consensus so as to avoid having people who would not do the biddings of the executive.
One of the party’s major concerns is the position of the Speaker, which was held throughout the ninth assembly by Hon. Olakunle Oluomo.
While some want Oluomo to retain his position as the Speaker of the Ogun Assembly, other leaders of the APC are suggesting a replacement for Oluomo, who was the Deputy Speaker from 2011 to 2019.
The reason some are not in support of Oluomo’s return as the Speaker was as a result of the N2.5 billion fraud case hanging around his neck.
Oluomo vs EFCC
The media recalls that Oluomo was in September 2022 arrested by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, over allegations that he diverted N2.5 billion Assembly money into personal pockets.
Oluomo was arrested at the Lagos Airport following his refusal to honour several invites extended to him by the EFCC on a petition against him.
According to the EFCC, the immediate past Speaker Oluomo and others had forged receipts and signatures to divert huge amounts of money, running into billions of Naira from the legislative arm of government.
The media learnt that invites by the EFCC to the Speaker and other members of the legislature were not honoured, except for the former Deputy Speaker, Dare Kadiri, who visited the EFCC office in Lagos and raised the alarm that his signature was forged to syphon up to N50 million he knew nothing about.
In his attempt to stop the EFCC from probing him, Oluomo had in January 2022, dragged the EFCC to court, seeking an order of interlocutory injunction restraining the EFCC from inviting, interrogating, imposing obligations, and demanding or requiring his attendance in connection with the criminal allegation made against them.
In March 2022, The media got reports of the EFCC investigation, in which the NNPC mega station owned by Obasanjo Holdings Limited and the Ashkash Nigeria Limited denied the receipts sent to the anti-graft agency by the Assembly as evidences of how funds were expended.
The EFCC, in a counter-affidavit to the suit filed by Oluomo, FHC/AB/CS/8/22, alleged that it had information that the lawmakers conspired among themselves to forge documents, to steal and divert over N700 million allocated for the running of the Ogun Assembly into personal use.
The EFCC said letters were written to the mentioned NNPC Mega station in Abeokuta and Askash filling station, to confirm the authenticity of the receipt made available to the commission by the Clerk of the Ogun Assembly.
However, the NNPC, through Obasanjo Holdings, said, “We write to inform you that the receipts being investigated were not issued by our filling station.”
Also, Ashkash filling station, reportedly owned by former Speaker, Suraj Adekunbi, replied the EFCC that, “We have painstakingly and extensively gone through our records, nothing of such exists in our transactions records. By this, we did not know anything about the receipts sent for investigation.”
Our correspondent reports that the EFCC case against Oluomo is still before a Federal High Court sitting in Abeokuta.
PDP rejects Oluomo as Speaker
Meanwhile, the PDP in Ogun State, has rejected any bid by the APC to return Oluomo as the Speaker of the Assembly.
In an interview with our correspondent, the PDP Publicity Secretary in Ogun, Akinloye Bankole, said Oluomo lacks the moral right to aspire for any leadership position considering the damning allegations against him.
“Of course, we are a decent political organisation. We don’t aid or encourage corruption in any form or guise. Hon. Oluomo lacks every moral right to aspire to lead in any capacity.
“Affairs of our democratic structure and institutions should not be conducted or presided over by questionable elements on whose necks hang unresolved financial infractions,” Bankole stated.
According to him, members elected under the PDP would not support Oluomo as the Speaker, saying consultations are ongoing with other stakeholders.
“Members-elect on our platform cannot, in good conscience, support Mr. Oluomo as the Speaker of the house. The leadership of our party is currently in consultation with other stakeholders as far as the composition of the house leadership is concerned. Definitely, we shall act in the best interest of the good people of Ogun State,” the PDP spokesman submitted.
A leader of the Action Alliance, AA, in Ogun State, Chief Dapo Adeyemi, opined that the APC should look for other ranking members-elect from Ogun Central to replace Oluomo as the Speaker.
While stating that he would have loved to support Oluomo having hailed from his Ifo Local Government, Adeyemi disclosed that the EFCC case against him would not allow him to do so.
“Oluomo is from my LG and I would have supported his return but for that fraud case hanging on his neck. Also, there are other ranking members without blemish from Ogun Central who can occupy the position,” he stated.
Meanwhile, the Speaker had severally declared that he is innocent of all the allegations against him.
It is left to be seen whether or not the APC and Governor Dapo Abiodun would support the return of Oluomo as the Speaker of the tenth Assembly on Tuesday.
