Speaker, Ondo State House of Assembly, Olamide Oladiji
Speaker of the Ondo State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Olamide Oladiji, has dismissed the campaign for his removal over an alleged N44 million financial misconduct as a political move linked to the 2027 elections.
He claimed that some lawmakers were working to stop him from returning as Speaker after the 2027 polls, adding that the same complaints had been raised against him for the past three years.
Twenty-one lawmakers accused Oladiji of approving a House resolution on the OSOPADEC budget reordering without the Assembly’s approval and of presiding over very few legislative sittings.
The lawmakers also alleged that the House held only four plenary sessions in the last seven months, a development they said had slowed legislative activities.
They vowed not to resume plenary until the Speaker steps down, despite intervention meetings involving Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa and leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ondo State.
Responding to the crisis, Oladiji expressed confidence that the dispute would soon be resolved through the party’s internal process.
He said, “We have the leader of the party in the APC, and they are trying to intervene. We have a way of settling our issues.”
The Speaker added, “We have been attending a series of meetings and, by the grace of God, in another one week, it will become a thing of the past.”
However, the Chairman of the House Committee on Information and House Spokesperson, Hon. Olatunji Ifabiyi, rejected the Speaker’s claim that the crisis was connected to the 2027 elections, insisting it was about alleged misconduct and abuse of office.
Ifabiyi said, “He claimed some of us did not get return tickets, but we have been observing his actions for a long time. The issue is not about tickets. The question is whether the Speaker should unilaterally issue a resolution claiming the House approved the OSOPADEC budget reordering without the Assembly’s approval,” adding that the aggrieved lawmakers had resolved that the Speaker must resign or face impeachment.
