This Is Blackmail, Ekiti House Speaker Accuses Governor Fayose

Speaker of Ekiti State House of Assembly, Dr. Adewale Omirin of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has accused the state governor Ayodele Fayose of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) of blackmailing and intimidating the State House of Assembly because of the APC’s members refusal to defect to PDP.
He said such blackmail and intimidation are going beyond approved standards of modern governance.
A statement by the Speaker’s Special Adviser on Media, Wole Olujobi, said the latest allegation that the lawmakers demanded N135 million ‎for them to screen governor Fayose’s commissioner-nominees was a propaganda taken too far, adding that it was against the grains of decency in a fledgling democracy.
Omirin, who said he would not have reacted if not for the gullible public that would be deceived by the Executive lies, expressed worry over media reports in which the executive accused the House of Assembly as a stumbling block to governor‎ Fayose’s bid to constitute his cabinet.
The speaker described the reports as misleading even as he stressed that the House would not be distracted from its record of integrity in making quality laws for Ekiti people as done in the last four years.
The House, he added, had made 74 laws without demanding for money, saying: “the standard practice is to present the list of the nominees for commissionership in the plenary while the nominees will follow with the submission of their credentials.
“They will be screened before confirmation.
“The governor sent three nominees on Monday and the list was read in the Parliamentary that day. Since it is a public document, we read the letter‎ second day in the plenary. Nobody submitted any credential. We don’t know the nominees. They have not submitted their credentials for the appropriate committees to screen them. It is surprising that the governor expects the House to confirm the nominees as sent. This is strange in parliamentary conduct.”
Omirin regretted that the governor responded by freezing the bank accounts of the House of Assembly, even as he insisted that one arm of government has no right and power to close down the activities of the other.
“How can you elevate ‎intimidation and blackmail to an art of governance? The Chief Judge was blackmailed that he took bribes of N20m to stall hearing on local council development areas case and another alleged N200m to reassign the E-Eleven’s perjury case to Justice Olusegun Ogunyemi to return guilty verdict on the governor.
“After the judiciary had been blackmailed to submission, it is now the turn of the parliament to be brought to its knees by the executive blackmailing members and freezing the accounts of the House as if the House is a department in the Governor’s Office.”
The Speaker said that the governor would have himself to blame if he continues in his anti-democratic conducts, making it clear that all members that have been mentioned in the bribery scandal would go to court to seek justice.
He said that Ekiti radio and television managements would account for libel contained in their broadcasts, saying also that all those involved in these damaging acts would be made to account for their actions.
The Speaker assured that the House would soon meet over reckless use of the state media to blackmail its members, adding that the Nigeria Broadcasting Commission would be put on notice on the reckless and unprofessional use of the state media to haunt the opposition. [myad]