Wole Balogun, Ado-Ekiti
Twenty-three members of Ekiti State House of Assembly, on Friday, passed vote of confidence on Governor Ayodele Fayose and dissociated themselves from an alleged plot to impeach the governor.
Armed policemen allegedly caused a stir when they laid siege on the Assembly premises, on Wednesday night, to pave way for the three lawmakers of the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) to reconvene the plenary, a week after the members had gone on recess.
The move was condemned by Speaker Kolawole Oluwawole at a press briefing, on Friday, when he alleged that the Assembly’s Clerk’s signature was forged in a letter purportedly written to request for police cover.
But the chairman, House Committee on information, Samuel Omotoso, who spoke with newsmen on behalf of the 23 members at Government House, said they came on a solidarity visit to Governor Fayose.
He also expressed displeasure at the siege on the Assembly by the security agents, saying that the members are solidly behind the Governor.
Omotoso said the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) lawmakers were fully in support of the move by the party to retrieve Olusola’s mandate which was allegedly stolen from him.
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He said, “We are here on solidarity visit to the Governor of Ekiti State, Dr. Ayodele Fayose and to show our displeasure to the stealing of the mandate freely given to Prof kolapo Olusola.
“We also want to use this medium to register our displeasure to the illegality being perpetrated by security agencies threatening to make the state ungovernable.
“As you can see, we are 23 members and 21 is present here. Mrs Titi Owolabi is not here because she is bereaved, and one of us travels oversea.
“We are 26 members; three are on the other side. We are united and irrevocably committed to the cause of Fayose.
“We are solidly behind him and our party the PDP. We support the decision of the party to go to court to retrieve the stolen mandate and also to tell the whole world that if 23 members are on the same page, we want to see how they want to use three members to perpetrate illegality in the state.
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“The tenure of this governor runs out on October 16 and by the grace of God, he will complete his tenure. We are elected members by our constituents and we will do all the needful to make sure that the interest of our people will be protected.
“We are very loyal to the cause of our Governor. We are solidly behind him and he will triumph over all his enemies,” he said.