The Ondo State House of Assembly, yesterday, tackled Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu over the claim that the Assembly members lied over the invasion of the Assembly by snakes.
The Assembly in a communique signed by 25 out of its 26 members insisted that the snake prevented its sitting on Wednesday and Thursday contrary to the governor’s claim.
Akeredolu had come hard on members of the state House of Assembly over their clam that snakes prevented them from carrying out their legislative duties.
The governor, who visited the Assembly complex after the report that a snake chased out lawmakers from plenary session accused the legislators of trying to blackmail the state government for pecuniary gains.
But the lawmakers, who found their voice four days after the governor visited the Assembly complex, also accused Governor Akeredolu’s media team of doctoring the video tape of the event that happened when the governor inspected the Assembly complex.
In a communiqué they issued yesterday after a parliamentary meeting held at the official resident of the Speaker, Bamidele Oleyelogun, the lawmakers described the Ondo Assembly complex as the worst in the country in terms of infrastructure.
They said that the current administration of Governor Akeredolu and previous administrations in the state failed to release money for the renovation of the complex.
The lawmakers, who had earlier claimed not to have financial capacity to carry out any project on the Assembly complex, also called for total autonomy of the legislative arm of government for proper functioning.
The communique read by the lawmaker representing Ese Odo State Constituency, Hon. Success Torukerijo, reiterated that the Assembly complex was in a state of dilapidation and needed urgent renovation.
It read in part: “We want to restate and reaffirm that on Wednesday July 24, 2019, a snake fell from the ceiling into the chamber of the Assembly. On Thursday July 25, 2019, part of the ceiling caved in and fell into the chamber, preventing us from holding a schedule meeting inside the chamber.
“We take exception to the doctored video released from the media office of the governor as it did not reflect what transpired, when the governor visited the Assembly on Friday July 26, 2019 and we will not want to join issue by releasing the original version of the tape.
“We reiterate the constitutional status of the legislature as an independent arm of government, which therefore, deserves to be accorded as such.
“We want to state without any equivocation that no fund has been released to the Assembly for the capital projects in the last five years, in spite of the yearly budgetary provision and there has not been any cash-backing for the renovation of the Assembly for the past 10 years.
“It is pitiable that the Ondo State House of Assembly is the worst in terms of infrastructure in the whole country. It will also interest the public to know that the office of the speaker and the deputy speaker have no official cars.”
The lawmakers declared that they would not waiver in their responsibility as representatives of the people of the state.
When contacted, the state Commissioner for Information, Mr. Donald Ojogo, declined comment on the matter.
