The Ondo State House of Assembly has provided an update on the alleged impeachment process against its Speaker, Olamide Oladiji, with the Speaker of the Assembly, Olatunji Ifabiyi, insisting that the process is still ongoing.
Ifabiyi, who spoke in a telephone interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday, dismissed reports that lawmakers had abandoned plans to remove Oladiji as president.
He said ongoing reconciliation efforts had not stopped the impeachment process, and insisted that lawmakers remained determined to remove the president.
READ ALSO: Oyo Government Deepens Intelligence-Based Security
“We have heard reports that we have stopped the process; that is not correct; it is misinformation. We are still on it. He cannot continue as our Speaker.
“Although Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa has been talking to some of us, that does not stop the impeachment process. There is no turning back,” the Assembly speaker said.
However, Oladiji denied that any impeachment process was underway against him, saying that the issues that triggered the crisis had been resolved through the intervention of Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa and the leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
“There is nothing like an impeachment process because the issues have been resolved. There is no impeachment.
“Mr. Governor and other party leaders have intervened and we are expected to hold our parliamentary meeting today,” the president said in a statement.
Oladiji also explained that an earlier misunderstanding involving some visitors to the Assembly complex on Thursday had been resolved.
According to him, the three youth leaders seen at the Assembly complex had visited the place to collect recruitment forms when some legislators questioned their presence there.
“I left my office and explained to the members that they were my guests and that they had visited the Assembly on previous occasions.
“They didn’t harass anyone, but some members insisted they had to leave.
“We were able to resolve the matter and there was nothing like a notice of impeachment or an impeachment process,” Oladiji said..
WATCH THE BEST VIDEOS FROM Newslodge TV