Lawmakers in the Ondo State House of Assembly have suspended further action on the impeachment of Speaker Olamide Oladiji, pending intervention from the leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Oladiji has faced mounting pressure from colleagues who accuse him of financial misconduct and poor leadership. Twenty-one of the Assembly’s 26 members reportedly signed an impeachment notice and gave him until Sunday, August 2, to resign. The deadline passed without action.
Chairman of the House Committee on Information, Olatunji Ifabiyi, told journalists at the Assembly complex on Wednesday that the process had not been abandoned, only paused.
“We are still waiting for the leadership of the party. We cannot proceed further until the party gives us direction, so the matter is pending,” he said. “We are unable to proceed further until the leadership of the party asks us to proceed. So, it is pending, but we are still on course.”
Ifabiyi said it was natural for the ruling party to step into the dispute since all 26 Assembly members were elected on the APC platform, describing the crisis as an internal party matter requiring mediation from the party’s leaders.
“It is normal for the party to intervene because we are all members of the same family. The APC has total control of the Ondo State House of Assembly,” he said. “Our father should call all his sons together to discuss whatever crisis has arisen so that it can be resolved.”
He warned, however, against the party leadership shielding the Speaker at the expense of the rest of the Assembly, insisting that most lawmakers remained committed to changing the current leadership.
“Our father will not prefer one person at the expense of the other 26 members,” he said. “It is our party, and the fact remains that we want to change the kind of leadership we currently have. There is no opposition among us; we all belong to the same political party.”
Ifabiyi acknowledged that the executive arm of government has no constitutional role in the legislature’s internal affairs, but maintained that the APC was entitled to mediate as the political platform uniting all lawmakers involved.
On legislative business, Ifabiyi said the House had reconvened following public concern over an extended absence from plenary sittings. He assured residents that lawmakers remained committed to their constitutional duties despite the leadership crisis, noting that the Assembly had since passed resolutions on key developmental issues and set up an audit committee to review its financial and administrative records.
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