Pro-Ajayi lawmakers allege shut-out of Assembly plenary

House spokesperson denies allegation, says they are only mischievous
Two lawmakers, who were opposed to the impeachment saga of Ondo State Deputy Governor, Agboola Ajayi, yesterday, alleged that they were refused entry into the state’s House of Assembly premises.

The incident got messier when the lawmakers, Rasheed Elegbeleye and Festus Akingbaso, representing Akoko North-East Constituency and Idanre Constituency respectively, were told by the security guards that the order to lock the gate came from the Speaker, Mr. Bamidele Oloyeloogun.

The Guardian learnt of the mild drama in a one-minute 30 seconds video that went viral, where the two lawmakers were seen protesting against the action of the policemen at the gate, saying that it was wrong for the Assembly leadership to deny them of their constitutional rights and duty.

One of them, Elegbeleye, put a call through to the Speaker, informing him that the gate was not opened for them.

He said: “We were invited by the parliamentary secretary for the plenary but on getting to the gate, it was locked and the gatemen ran away.

“We were surprised to see this, after all, we are not suspended and even those suspended have been reinstated by the court.

“So, we called the Speaker, he did not pick. So, we went back to our house. On our way home, the Speaker called us back pretending to be unaware of our being locked out. We did not return to the House.”

MEANWHILE, the spokesman of the Assembly, Mr. Gbenga Omole, however, declared that the lawmakers were being mischievous about the whole scenario, saying that no lawmaker was locked out of the Assembly Complex.

He said “These lazy lawmakers are aware we are going on recess today and they just wanted to make some noise as usual. Four days ago, they claimed thugs prevented them. Today, they said they were locked out.

“In the video, you can hear that they received the notice to attend plenary. So, if they are officially informed and invited, how can they be locked out again?”