How Ogun Lawmakers Planned, Executed ‘Impeachment Coup’ Against Oluomo

In what appeared to be a move that shocked the entire people of Ogun State, 18 out of the 26 members of the State House of Assembly on Tuesday impeached Olakunle Oluomo as the Speaker of the Assembly. Olumo's impeachment came barely four days after the Supreme Court validated the election of governor Dapo Abiodun as the duly elected governor of the state. Oluomo made history as the second Speaker to be impeached since 1999. Former Speaker, Titi Oseni was the first to be removed as the Speaker of the House in 2008 during the tenure of former Governor Gbenga Daniel. Oseni was impeached by 22 out of the 26-member Assembly and Tunji Egbetokun was elected as her replacement. Olumo, representing Ifo I Constituency, was impeached on Tuesday, during plenary presided over by the Deputy Speaker, Mrs Bolanle Ajayi.

Oluomo, who had been dragged to court by the Economic Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over alleged financial misappropriation, was replaced by Oludiasi Elemide, representing Odeda constituency. Elemide, a loyalist of former Gov- ernor Olusegun Osoba, and Oluomo shared the same traits as they are both third-term lawmakers and are from Ogun Central, the zone that produced the Speaker. Elemide had in 2019 contested the Speakership seat with Oluomo but later stepped down after being prevailed upon by Governor Dapo Abiodun and other leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

The many sins of Oluomo:

The many sins of Oluomo, according to the lawmakers, included: gross misconduct, high handedness, lack of focus and transparency, arrogance and poor leadership style, financial misappropriation and inciting members against themselves. The leadership crisis at the Assem- bly started in 2022, when the former Deputy Speaker, Dare Kadiri dragged Oluomo to the EFCC, accusing him of misappropriating and embezzling the sum of N2.5billion belonging to the House. Kadiri, in a petition to the anti-graft agency, demanded the investigation and prosecution of Oluomo for misappropriating the funds meant for the Assembly since 2019. He accused the erstwhile Speaker of forging his signature while he was the Deputy Speaker to withdraw up to N50million from the Assembly's bank account. Kadiri also accused Oluomo of shrouding the House financial records in secrecy, insisting that he would want the Speaker to explain how his signature was forged to withdraw money he knew nothing about. He said, “the Ogun State Assembly is not supposed to be a cult where you cannot ask for financial information of the House.

How can I, at this level of mine, be in a place and I don't know the financial report of the House? That's what caused all this mess.” Oluomo alongside the Clerk of the House, Taiwo Adeyemo and Oladayo Samuel, the Director of Finance are currently facing 11-count charge bothering on financial misappropriation, embezzlement and forgery, among others. The crisis consumed Kadiri as he was impeached as the Deputy Speaker of the House and later suspended as a lawmaker. The allegations against Oluomo would later come back to “bite him in the butt” two years later, leading to his eventual impeachment.

The impeachment coup:

The motion for the impeachment of Oluomo was moved by Adegoke Adeyanju (APC) of Yewa North 1 constituency and seconded by Ademola Adeniran (Sagamu II constituency). The House consists of 18 APC lawmakers and eight Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) members. Our correspondent gathered that Adeyanju, popularly known as “Awoso,” had entered the Assembly chamber with the mace in company of other lawmakers. It was further gathered that a few other lawmakers manned the two entrances into the hallowed chamber where the new Speaker came in and sat for less than one minute. Findings by our correspondent revealed that the lawmakers secretly started collecting signatures for the impeachment of Oluomo since October 2023. It was further gathered that Governor Abiodun had prevailed on the lawmakers not to impeach Oluomo.

But it was gathered that the lawmakers could no longer contain their disdain for the former Speaker. Adeyanju said: “We didn't want him (Oluomo) as our Speaker, but Mr. Governor was the one who had been begging us not to remove him. The Governor said he knew Oluomo offended us a lot during the 9th Assembly and promised to talk to him. “After Mr. Governor begged us on his (Oluomo) behalf that we should vote him again for second time as the Speaker, we listened to him. Baba Osoba also begged us and we forgave him. “Nobody is sponsored or instigated us to impeach him. The 18 signatures for his impeachment were taken in October and November 2023, but we knew that the Governor would be presenting the budget and because we have the interest of our people, we could not impeach him then because it might affect the 2024 budget, so we decided to wait after passage of the budget.

“After the passage of the budget, we wanted to impeach him last week, but someone suggested that we should do it after the Supreme Court judgement. This is because people might think we were being sponsored. So we decided that we will impeach him after the Supreme Court judgment. “The impeached Speaker is an ar- rogant human being. In a sane environment, he should have stepped aside when he was dragged to court. He has always been pleading and we were managing him and he now came again and embezzled our personal money, we can't continue with that, enough is enough! “He collected money on our behalf, but he didn't give us, there were also some money that other leaders of the party gave us, and he embezzled part of the money. “He had been embezzling part of the money for the running of the House, and we have evidence of all this,”Adeyanju, who moved the motion for Oluomo's impeachment, told our correspondent.

Enter Elemide, the new Speaker:

Speaking to journalists after being elected as the new speaker, Elemide explained that the people of the state should expect the best from him. “We are law abiding legislators. We want the world to know that there has been a change in leadership,” he said. Elemide also dispelled rumours that Oluomo's impeachment was sponsored and influenced by external forces. “The constitution gives us the right to select, and elect our Speaker. The Speaker is not in any way higher than the members, he is just the first among equals and whoever the members say is their Speaker is their Speaker and that was what was demonstrated this afternoon. “We just want to pass it to the whole world that there has been a change in the leadership of this honourable House. And at least 18 out of 26 members have unanimously signed, supported and picked me to be their new Speaker.

“I'm not their boss, I'm only the one that will speak to guide and protect their interest, that is what we have just done. “We plead with our people to please remain calm. We want to appreciate the Governor, we thank God that He gave us victory at the Supreme Court, if not for that, I think this thing (im- peachment) would have come up before now, but we want it to be truly acceptable. “We take responsibility for everything that we have done today, no- body else should be punished for our actions,” Elemide said. When asked if Oluomo's impeachment was ordered by the Governor, Elemide said, “We have separation of power of the three arms of government; judiciary, legislative and executive, we are exercising our legislative right. The Governor does not know anything about this, but he is still our boss.”

He assured that the change in leadership of the House would not threaten or distabilise the government of Abiodun. “By the grace of God, Dapo is our Governor till May 29, 2027 and we are not out to fight the Governor or to do anything, but we are here in the interest of the masses and we are working against anything that will not allow us to perform our duties. “Often times, people have been saying we are a rubber stamp house, but we want everything to go on well,”.the new Speaker said.

Oluomo's impeachment, victory for Ogun people – Kadiri

Kadiri described the impeachment of Oluomo as a victory for the people of the state and enthronement of Nigeria's democracy. Kadiri, while reacting to Oluomo's impeachment in an interview with our correspondent said the impeachment has vindicated him. Kadiri said, “Everyone knows how Hon Osho and myself were assaulted, disgraced and victimised, when Oluomo was speaker at the Ogun State House of Assembly. But with this latest development, the whole world must have seen what we were saying at that time. “The allegations upon which he was impeached were almost the same thing with the grounds for my grouse against him then. He talked to people anyhow, divided the assembly, tried to paint some as the governors boys, while tagging some others as anti-government. These were the things I was shouting against then! But people seem not to understand me or maybe I was the one who wasn't presenting my case well, but thank God we all can understand now.

“The same maltreatment I faced, is the same thing the current deputy speaker is facing. So going by what has happened, I have been vindicated and yesterday was one of my happiest days on earth. I couldn't sleep, there were different calls from different quarters, some even apologised to me yesterday that they misunderstood me. “This is a victory for a of us in Ogun State and our democracy. We just have to salvage our country, corruption cannot just continue to thrive in our system and expect that development will take place.” The former deputy speaker further noted that Oluomo still has a case to answer with the anti graft agency, noting that a case instituted by the EFCC against the embattled speaker was still on.

“This case is in court and EFCC is there and the trial will be coming up at the end of this month. I should have been in the country to testify in court, but I can only do that if the state will give me security. Yes, my life is more important to me,” he said. Also clearing the air on claims that Oluomo and the state governor, Dapo Abiodun, teamed up to fight him in 2023, Kadiri explained that he now has a cordial relationship with the governor. He further explained that it took him time to understand that the governor had no hand in his many troubles and subse- quent suspension from the house in 2023. “On the involvement of the executive, well, we thank God the Governor and I are now on good terms. It took me time to know that the governor was not involved or supporting Oluomo against me during our face off at the assembly. Now I know that Governor Dapo has no hand in my impeachment.

“The governor has exhibited maturity and I have applauded him for that . The governor has been my brother, the only person that ever caused a little rift between us is this same Oluomo,” he said. Kadiri, however, expressed optimism that the state will experience “remarkable improvement going forward.”

Related