Ondo: Why Opposition Assembly Lawmakers Locked Out Of Plenary |The Source

By Ayodele Oni, Akure

Ondo State House of Assembly is becoming a theatre of sort where various plays are acted, some of which have called the integrity of the Members to question.

Early this week, it was an invasion by members of the National Union of Road Transport Workers, (NURTW), that took the law into their hands by preventing some Assembly members entry into the premises.

Before the dust raised by the denial of some Lawmakers, tagged anti- impeachment members, brand new cars by the executive arm, the leadership of the house again on Thursday locked out some Lawmakers.

Those that were prevented from participating in the business of the House are members of the opposition People’s Democratic Party, (PDP).

They include Festus Akingbaso and Rasheed Elegbeleye from Akoko north east and Idanre constituencies respectively.

As at the time the video showing the experience of the parliamentarians went viral, the leadership could not give any reason for denying the Lawmakers their right to take part in the day’s proceeding.

According to the viral video, the duo had arrived at the gate but were prevented from entering by security men.

The drama was revealed in a one minute, 30 seconds video.

In the video, the two lawmakers were seen making frantic effort to enter but were blocked by policemen at the gate.

The security guard claimed he was acting on the orders of the Speaker, Mr Bamidele Oloyeloogun.

One of the lawmakers put a call through to the speaker, Mr Bamidele Oloyeloogun, informing him about what happened at the gate,  yet the gate was not opened for them .

One of the aggrieved Lawmakers , Mr Elegbeleye, confirmed the video and said it was a deliberate act to shut them out.

“We were invited by the parliamentary secretary for the plenary session but on getting to the gate of the Assembly, it was locked, and the gatemen ran away. We were surprised about this, after all, we are not suspended, even those suspended have been reinstated by the court.

“So, we called the speaker he did not pick, we went back to our houses,  and on our way back, the speaker called us pretending to be unaware of our being locked out , but we did not return to the House”

The spokesman of the Assembly, Mr Gbenga Omole, said the Lawmakers were mischievous about the whole scenario, maintaining that no Lawmaker was locked out of the Assembly complex.

“These lazy Lawmakers are aware we are going on recess today, and they just wanted to make some noise as usual. Four Days ago, they claimed thugs prevented them. Today they said they were locked out.

“In the video, you can hear that they received the notice to attend Plenary. So, if they were officially informed and invited, how can they be locked out again, is that not contradictory?

The Ondo House of Assembly has been in crisis since some of them voted against the  impeachment of Deputy Governor Agboola Ajayi.

Ajayi resigned from the APC without quitting the office of the Deputy Governor.

He defected to the PDP, with the strong belief that he would that HE would be announced the Governorship candidate. When he failed, he defected to the ZLP, and easily for annointed as the candidate without going through the Primary. Surprisingly, no member of the Assembly has joined him in the ZLP.