• Insist Speaker’s removal ‘non-negotiable’, vow no plenary sitting
• Gov committed to Tinubu’s 2027 re-election, says Ajanaku
• Aiyedatiwa faces allegations of alliance with opposition party

The Ondo State House of Assembly crisis deepened yesterday as 21 of the 26 lawmakers accused Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa of undue interference, insisting that the removal of Speaker Olamide Oladiji is “non-negotiable.”

The lawmakers, who have paralysed legislative activities in the Assembly, accused the governor of shielding the Speaker from impeachment over the purported alleged unilateral reordering of the N9.2 billion OSOPADEC budget and mismanagement of N44 million.

According to the lawmakers, who spoke through the Chairman of the House Committee on Information, Olatunji Fabiyi, representing Odigbo Constituency 1, the decision to remove the Speaker is final and non-negotiable.

Fabiyi, who described the governor’s intervention as an unacceptable encroachment on legislative independence, insisted that the matter is strictly a private affair of the House and not subject to executive interference.

He further said that the governor’s intervention could be interpreted as having ulterior motives, suggesting that the executive may have undisclosed interests in keeping Oladiji as Speaker despite the resolution of more than two-thirds of the lawmakers.

The Assembly spokesperson also disclosed that the governor had initially requested a seven-day window for negotiations but later extended it to 14 days following closed-door meetings with the lawmakers, with the new deadline now set to expire next Sunday.

MEANWHILE, ‎Ondo State Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Idowu Ajanaku, has said that Aiyedatiwa is fully committed to the re-election of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in the 2027 presidential election, adding that with many success stories of the President’s renewed hope agenda in the state, Ondo will deliver over one million votes.
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Ajanaku, who spoke with journalists yesterday, stated that the current Ondo State administration considers Tinubu’s second-term bid a priority because of the enormous developmental benefits the state has continued to receive from the Federal Government, expressing confidence that the state would be number one in the South-West with massive votes.
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He described Tinubu’s economic reforms as bold and necessary measures aimed at repositioning Nigeria’s economy for sustainable growth.

Ajanaku, therefore, called on All Progressives Congress (APC) members and supporters across the state to remain united and intensify grassroots mobilisation in support of Tinubu’s re-election bid.

He, however, expressed optimism that sustained collaboration between the Federal Government and Ondo State would accelerate development, expand infrastructure and ensure that more dividends of democracy reach the people.

IN another development, fresh cracks have emerged within the Ondo State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC), following allegations that Aiyedatiwa has opened alliance talks with the African Democratic Congress (ADC).

The allegation was made after some of his preferred loyalists lost the party’s National Assembly tickets, with the National Working Committee (NWC) said to be closely monitoring the situation.

According to findings, the development has further strained relations between the governor and the party’s national leadership after the recent primary election process that saw Aiyedatiwa’s preferred aspirants edged out of the party’s ticket list for the 2027 general elections.

The governor’s camp has, however, dismissed the claims as politically motivated.

However, a statement yesterday by the governor’s Chief Press Secretary, Ebenezer Adeniyan, dismissed the allegations of anti-party activities as “false, misleading, and a deliberate attempt to manufacture controversy.”