Sunday, 7 June 2015

Impeach me, risk political death, Fayose warns Ekiti Speaker as he inaugurates 5th Assembly



Governor  Ayodele  Fayose  of  Ekiti  State yesterday warned the new speaker  of the State House of Assembly and the legislators against ganging up to impeach him .

He told them to steer clear of  “mindless power struggle” as no  one can impeach him and those who  did so  “the other time  have died politically today.”

He was apparently referring to his impeachment  during his first term  in  October 2006 .

The Supreme Court recently ruled that the impeachment was unconstitutional.

“I am a man destined for greatness and with the power of God, nobody can bring me down. I have defeated my enemies during elections and now I defeated impeachment,” Fayose boasted yesterday as he inaugurated the 5th Ekiti State Assembly in Ado Ekiti.

“Whoever thinks  he could impeach his governor and the Deputy for him to become the Acting Governor always end being destroyed. You have to learn from history. Those who impeached me the other time have died politically today.”

He  deplored moves by the last Assembly to remove him from the office.

He called the moves by  19 APC members of the House as   “crude and barbaric,” saying their action enjoyed no support from President Muhammadu Buhari.

Fayose claimed that security report available to him revealed that Buhari was never part of the plot .

He said:  “The President has said that he has no enemy to fight. He said he has put the past behind him and why were  the APC lawmakers still bent on impeaching me? What is there own in this matter?

The governor  promised to work with the new Assembly  and advised the legislators to operate as members of  one family.

He said:  “I believe all of you, I mean  lawmakers, know that whoever attacks the new speaker is attacking Fayose? I think you know that?”

All the 26 members of the Fifth Assembly were elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) .

The lawmaker representing Moba 1,Mr. Kola Oluwawole, was elected as Speaker while the member  from Ekiti West 1, Segun Adewumi, emerged as   Deputy Speaker.

Other principal officers elected yesterday are Tunji Akinyele (Oye 2), House Leader and Sunday Akinniyi (Ikere 2) as Chief Whip.

The new speaker, Hon Oluwawole  who was Fayose’s Chief of Staff  during the governor’s first term said  the legislature  would not go beyond its bounds in the discharge of its duties.

His words:”The separation of powers between the executive and the legislative arms , is not meant to be taken to the extremes as some people opined.

“Separation of power is a mandatory requirement of government. These roles are enacted in such a way that harmony can reign. The executive and the legislature are one PDP family.

“Morbid critics of the Fifth Assembly will fail woefully. The two institutions are to operate one single government.

“They are expected to operate as independent arms of the same government. It is rather one of the shared powers , than separation of powers.”

Fayose ,riding on a motorcycle had led a procession of his supporters round Ado Ekiti to celebrate his escape from impeachment by the  last assembly.

The procession took off  from Ijigbo-Matthew Roundabout and moved through Mugbagba, Old Garage, Okeyinmi, Okesa, Secretariat Road before  terminating  at the Assembly complex.

Addressing the people during the victory procession, Fayose said: “you have really proved that you gave me the mandate to serve you. You defended me and proved that Ekiti will continue to speak with one voice.

“PDP is an opposition party and we have accepted that, but we will resist any attempt to muzzle  the opposition here in Ekiti.

“You may not like my style , but the people here say they like it. I am a local politician and I will continue to work for the people.

“I won’t do whatever Ekiti people won’t like  . I am your boy-boy here. I am not a governor who uses power to oppress his people.

“The last seven months have been more of distraction for me because of the impeachment threat. With this inauguration, we have to settle down for governance and kick the ground running , so that we won’t disappoint the people.”

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