Osun State Governor, Mr. Rauf Aregbesola, has
responded to the petition written against him by a
serving judge in the State Judiciary, Justice
Folahanmi Oloyede.
The Speaker of the House of Assembly, Mr.
Najeem Salaam, said this in a statement made
available to our correspondent in Osogbo on
Wednesday by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr.
Goke Butika.
Oloyede, in a petition to the House of Assembly,
accused Aregbesola of financial recklessness
and asked the lawmakers to impeach the
governor.
The Speaker, who said earlier that the Assembly
had forwarded the petition to the governor for his
response, said the lawmakers could not do
anything until they received the governor’s
response.
Following the receipt of Aregbesola’s defence,
the Speaker asked the judge to prepare to appear
before an investigative committee he had set up
on the matter.
The Speaker said the Assembly was now ready
to investigate the allegations, while assuring the
people of the state that their investigation would
be a thorough one.
The statement read in parts, “State of Osun
House of Assembly has expressed its readiness
to address the petition sent to it by a judge of the
State High Court, Justice Olamide Folahanmi
Oloyede, having obtained the response of
Governor Rauf Aregbesola on the matter.
“The detailed response of the state helmsman
was obtained on Tuesday, compelling the
parliament to set machinery in motion on the
investigation of allegation of financial hiccups
and her position for the preparation of
impeachment article against the governor among
other issues.
“The parliament would be fair and thorough in
investigating all the issues raised with a view to
reaching a logical end that would give all parties
concerned sense of justice without fear or
favour.
“I have constituted an investigative committee
that will look into the petition forwarded by
Justice Oloyede, and I have given the committee
mandate to interact with Justice Oloyede in
person.
“Justice Oloyede is in the best position to further
shed light on her position as expressed.
However, I assure all the parties concerned that
the matter would be treated with fairness and
sense of justice without fear or favour.”
Meanwhile, the Coalition of Groups for Good
Governance has berated the judge for asking the
Assembly to impeach Aregbesola.
The Chairman of CGGG, Waheed Adediran, said
this in a statement made available to our
correspondent in Osogbo.
He said, “It is unambiguous that the petition
forwarded to the State of Osun House of
Assembly by Justice Folahanmi Oloyede is not
known to law and not capable of initiating any
form of impeachment process what so ever.
“In pursuant to section 188 (1) (2) and section 1
(1) of the Constitution of Federal Republic of
Nigeria as amended, the petition in question is a
mere letter that does not deserve any attention.”
The group also said the governor was not guilty
of financial recklessness leveled against him by
the judge.
Adediran explained that the 50 per cent crash in
the price of crude oil and crude oil theft during
the regime of former President Goodluck
Jonathan was responsible for the sharp
reduction in revenue allocation to the state.
He said Aregbesola worked hard to raise the
state’s internally generated revenue from
N300,000,000 per month to over N1.6 billion per
month, adding that the governor had done so
much to develop the state.
Adediran added that Osun State, which was
second to the last on the allocation ladder,
ironically, had the second largest workforce in
the country.
The group urged public servants and other
stakeholders in the state to support Aregbesola’s
administration in its efforts to transform the
state into an economically viable one.