Ondo Assembly Crisis: APC Leaders Scheme For Majority

By Dayo Johnson Akure—LEADERSHIP of the All Progressives
Congress APC in Ondo state are wooing some
opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP,
members of the state Assembly so as to have the
majority in the legislative arm of government. The opposition PDP has 15 members while the
ruling APC has 11 as at yesterday. While the lobbyists of the ruling party have
succeeded in bringing some PDP members on
board they have met a brick wall penetrating the
13 members supporting the sacked speaker
Jumoke Akindele. APC The leaders are said to be acting on the instruction
of the state government following the crisis in the
Assembly, which had defiled solution for several
months. The 26 members of the embattled Assembly failed
to hold plenary session two weeks ago over
disagreement that the minority party cannot
produce the speaker. Although a parliamentary meeting took place
recently to resolve their differences but they
disagreed that the APC which has 11 members of
the 26 should produce the speaker and deputy. The new Speaker, Bamidele Oleyeloogun and his
deputy Ogundeji Iroju formerly of PDP recently
jumped ship to the APC. Vanguard gathered that the plenary session was
cancelled due to the fears that PDP members could
raise a point of order over the composition of the
principal offices of the Assembly. One of the lawmakers told Vanguard that; “Order
2 (a) the House of Assembly rules states that the
Speaker and Deputy Speaker must come from the
majority party in the House as case may be. The fear that the planned joint plenary session
might degenerate into a fresh crisis necessitated it’s
cancellation by the new principal officers. Vanguard gathered that moves are on, by the
ruling party, to work on some PDP members to
defect to the APC so as to have the needed
number to sustain their hold on the leadership of
the Assembly. The state deputy governor Agboola Ajayi is
coordinating other leaders to woo the PDP
members. They have succeeded in wooing the son of the oil
magnate and the Olugbo of Ugbo in the oil
community in the state Oba Fredrick Akinruntan ,
Hon Abayomi Akinruntan to the ruling party. Findings showed that another PDP lawmaker, Hon
Fasogbon may jump ship this week.