Lawmakers in the Ondo State House of Assembly seem to set for a showdown with the state governor, Mr. Rotimi Akeredolu, over his vituperation against the lawmakers on the snake invasion saga that rocked the state assembly last week.
The lawmakers who threatened to frustrate and decline passage to a proposed N30billion loan by the state governor for developmental projects in the state if the governor fails to renovate the state Assembly complex.
In an interview with journalists, the Chairman House Committee on Information, Hon. Gbenga Omole, maintained that the lawmakers were not out to blackmail the governor or government as insinuated by Akeredolu during his visit to the Assembly complex.
He said: “They want to borrow money now. I am a member of the Appropriation Committee. They want to borrow N30 billion. If they did not do what we want, we will not allow that to happen.
“It is not going to be business as usual. That is my own stand as the spokesperson of the House. Do they not repair their own offices? The truth is that they will give them small money and they will pass the budget, the one that concern them will not be addressed. We are not going to take that this time around.
“We cannot say because we are friends to the governor and not say the truth, they repair their offices. Let us expose the leadership of the House, the Speaker said money is voted for the renovation every year, but it is not backed with cash. They did not release money for repair, yet you pass their budgets.
“Out of the money, they said they want to rehabilitate the Accountant General’s office, they want to repair the Accountant General’s office, you don’t want to repair the independent arm of government. It is not going to happen. The worst is that they will not give us a second term but we will do what the people of Ondo State like.”
Speaking on the snake invasion, Omole said “the truth of the matter is that that place needs attention. The way they merged the issue of the snake with the collapsed part of the building is the issue. The termites have eaten the roof of the building.
“There was a snake invasion on Wednesday, but on Thursday when we were about to sit, we discovered termites have eaten the roof. The question is that termites did not start eating the place in the last two years. It has been the failure of the leadership of the House in the past Assembly.
“To set the record straight, we never sat on Wednesday and Thursday. Actually, we wanted to sit on Thursday, but when we came in some part of the roof have caved-in.
“I granted the interview that on Wednesday that there was a snake and we could not sit, it is not that snake chased us out of the chamber. That was what everybody wrote. Journalists have the liberty to write what they wanted to write.
“On the issue of termites, everybody knows that place needs a facelift; that is a fact that the governor knows. It is the joining of the snake with termites that embarrassed the governor.
“The governor accused us of blackmail, why is it that the past leadership of the House has not done anything about it. Every year they put renovation of the Assembly in the budget and it was not implemented. The executive brings in budget and you passed it at a place that is termite infested.”
Recall that the state governor, Akeredolu, lambasted the lawmakers over the allegation that snakes prevented them from carrying out their legislative duties, describing it as embarrassing and an attempt to ridicule and blackmail his administration.
Akeredolu who visited the Assembly complex after the report that snakes chased out lawmakers from the plenary queried the lawmakers. He said: “Did you see any green snake here? You said snake chased you out of this place and that you adjourned sine-die. How did you combine what happened here yesterday with your snake if it is not grand connivance by yourselves?
“What I have come to do is to verify what has happened. I have seen that what has happened is that there is an attempt to blackmail the state and I think the government will not take it. I was given the facts and I want to be sure that the Speaker and that most of the officers are here.
“No snake fell here yesterday or day before yesterday, they were not sitting when the ceiling came down. They only met the ceiling that it came down. It was not that they were sitting.
“And all the pictures that were put up there are fake. There was no sitting; the ceiling did not collapse while they were sitting. How did you come about that story? How did you come about putting one giant snake or python; it does not exist here. How did you come about it?
“There is an attempt to blackmail the government and I don’t believe that is the best approach. This is an arm of government and they have their votes and what they are entitled to, is the one we give them. This place is termite infested and certainly, the termites have been dwelling here for several years. We have just come for two years; there is no way termites’ infestation in two years would cause such destruction.
“Something is wrong, this place has not been maintained and members of the House have always been here, what have they done about the maintenance of this place? If they have not been concerned about it, we have to sit down at the table and work things out.”
Meanwhile, the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state has described the development in the state House of Assembly as unfortunate.
The party which attributed the development in the state House of Assembly to the toothless leadership foisted to serve as a rubber-stamp to Executive recklessness, advising the lawmakers to live above “pettiness and deliver nothing other than good governance.”
The PDP statement read: “Our party uses this opportunity to advise the Honourable members to rise up in defence of the people’s mandate given to them and to save the legislative arm of government from ridicule.
“PDP notes the recent unfortunate incident that occurred at the Ondo State House of Assembly, where members allegedly fled the hallowed chambers due to the presence of a snake within the legislative hall. This event calls for deep concern from all citizens.
“And now that such issue has become a subject of unfortunate accusation and counter-accusation from the people whose heads carry the mandate of the masses, with an arm of government name tagging the other arm as blackmailers, we will hope the matter will get the required investigative attention and the records be set straight as a show of respect for the mandate the good people of Ondo State.”
Akintoye said further that “it is on record that the Rt. Hon. Oloyelogun-led APC dominated House of Assembly has not lived up to its responsibilities as an independent arm of government.
“While not giving credence to the name tag of blackmail as expressed by the executive, the present state of decay and infrastructure neglect at the Assembly, shows poor management of the synergy expected of two independent arms of government that should be working together for the good of our people.
“We are concerned as citizens of this great state, and our concern is that this legislature may not serve the best interest of the people considering its perceived submission of its independence to the whims and caprices of the Executive arm of government.
“We further note with great worries that the tenure of this present Assembly may end up being with little or no benefit or impact on the life of the people as it has continued to portray itself as installed to serve the interest of its paymaster.”