I’m still the Speaker of Ekiti Assembly – says Aribisogan

The impeached speaker of the Ekiti State House of Assembly, Hon.Olugboyega Aribisogan, has maintained that he still remains the Speaker of the Ekiti State House of Assembly.

This was as he vowed to contest his removal in the court of law.

Aribisogan who’s representing Ikole Constituency 1 of Ekiti State was impeached and suspended yesterday alongside other seven members of the House.

The embattled lawmaker while speaking on Sunrise Daily, a Channels Television programme, on Tuesday, also accused Kayode Fayemi, a former governor of the state of being a dark horse in the whole crisis in the Assembly.

“My election was never manipulated, it was in the open and clear. People were in the gallery and nominations were made. I was duly elected. The party is only being economical with the truth. They had already wanted to impose their will on Ekiti people,” he said.

“They had already wanted to impose their will on Ekiti people. We have three Senatorial Districts and the southern part of the state has the deputy governor and the party chairman, and the central part of the state has the governor, a minister and an ambassador, the northern part has nothing.

“And these are issues we are trying to solve even before that time they invited us. And I have been consistently saying it, there must be equity. What happened on the day I was elected was to show the party that the majority of the members wished we had a balance in Ekiti state. We are all stakeholders.

“After the election,all the members came to my office to congratulate me including Hon. Adelugba. The election was free and fair.

“The leadership of the House is still intact. Fifteen of us as still intact and we’ve resolved that if they did not rescind on their action and police is still guiding the house complex,we shall approach the court at the appropriate time.

“I stand to say he (Fayemi) is the one trying to destabilise the state house of assembly. I’m going to tell it to his face that what he is doing in Ekiti will not be acceptable to the people of Ekiti.

“Because he cannot put a governor and at the same time not allow the governor to work. We are all witnesses to how he has been manipulating the current governor and he has been sandwiching him not to allow him to speak.”

“We’ve done what’s expected of us to elect the speaker and I remain the speaker until otherwise is proved.”

Reacting,Hakeem Jamiu, the deputy speaker of the house, said the election that produced Aribisogan was manipulated and as a result, it is a sham.

“That election was a sham. We later discovered that the whole process was manipulated. And that was the reason for the crisis in the party because members started complaining,” he said.

“About 14 to 16 members started complaining that this is not the way they voted.

“We later discovered so many things because we set up an ad-hoc committee that later found out that process was comprised and that is the reason for his impeachment and suspension.”

“Seventeen members of the house followed the new speaker to the party office where she held a press conference. Where is Aribisogan’s fifteen members that he’s claiming? Let him produce them.