THE Ekiti State House of Assembly has announced the suspension of the controversial 30-day recess it announced on Thursday, saying it would resume activities today (Tuesday) “in the interest of Ekiti public.”
We gathered in Ado Ekiti yesterday that the 26 members of the House had met on Monday and were said to have agreed that the House should resume immediately.
The Speaker of the House, Dr Adewale Omirin, had, on Thursday, announced a 30-day recess to commence on Friday, October 17, the day after the swearing-in of Mr Ayò Fayose as the governor of the state.
The speaker had based his decision on what he saw as a threat to his position, following the defection of seven members of the dominant All Progressives Congress (APC) in the Assembly to Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)
Speaker Omirin had allegedly sensed that there were moves to remove him from the position and, therefore proactively announced a unilateral one-month recess of the Assembly, a situation which drew the ire of some of the members.
Reacting to the controversial announcement through a statement by Lere Olayinka, the state government had claimed that the speaker was only “acting out the script of APC’s plan B to frustrate the new government.”
But Omirin, who was absent at the inauguration of the new government, was present at the government’s thanksgiving service on Sunday, with some sources claiming that the speaker had met with some top government functionaries on the way forward.
A statement by Omirin’s media aide, Mr Wole Olujobi, said: “sequel to this, the House will begin sitting today (Tuesday) in preparation for the screening of special advisers and commissioners to be appointed by Governor Ayodele Fayose.”
Olujobi said: “the step is in the overriding public interest,” and added that “all the 26 members of the state House of Assembly have been contacted on the new development and they have assured that the House sitting won’t be tense.”
Olujobi confirmed in his statement that seven members of the APC-dominated assembly had during Fayose’s inauguration last Thursday defected to the PDP, which fuelled apprehension that the Speaker was being plotted for removal.”
