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As the crisis plaguing the Ekiti State House of Assembly is yet to simmer down, new twists have emerged indicating that a major political crisis is set to blow open in the state.
Major political actors in the state and some former officials of the immediate past administration of Dr Kayode Fayemi have revealed to WesternPost that the crisis that engulfed the state House of Assembly is a precursor to a titanic battle ahead.
Competent sources say former Governor Fayemi is not prepared to allow Governor Abiodun Oyebanji whose election to Oke Ayoba Government House he funded and singlehandedly facilitated to stay out of his control.
It is an open secret in Ekiti that Oyebanji became candidate of All Progressives Congress in the governorship election and recorded subsequent victory on the benevolence of Dr. Fayemi and his wife, Bisi Fayemi, who was reported to have prevailed on her husband to accept her choice of the current governor who was then the Secretary to the State Government.
Immediately after the election in June, some political interests in the state moved to prevail on the members of the State Assembly to get the late House Speaker, Funminiyi Afuye, to vacate the seat because the elected Deputy Governor, Monisade Afuye, is from the same Ikere town as the speaker, though they are not in anyway related.
The late Speaker resisted the pressure on him to resign his seat insisting he will serve out his term till 2023 since he is not returning to the House.
Sources close to the late Speaker informed our correspondent that immediately after the swearing-in of Oyebanji, a fresh plan was made by the hawks in the state to use the members of the House to impeach Afuye.
The dirty plots and intrigues allegedly aggravated the health challenge of the late Speaker who was said to nurse high blood pressure leading to his eventual death.
The death of Speaker Afuye didn’t stop the plot and counter plot.
Westernpost reliably gathered that immediately after the funeral service for the late speaker at St. Peters Anglican Church, Ikere on November 12, which was attended by the governor, Fayemi, his wife, political big wigs in the state, members of the State of Assembly moved straight to Fayemi’s new house in Ado Ekiti Close to Ola Oluwa Grammar School to decide on who the new Speaker will be without consulting Governor Oyebanji.
The Deputy Speaker, Hakeem Jamiu, according to one of our sources, sent a message to Governor Oyebanji to ask of his whereabouts and why he has not joined them.
A shocked Oyebanji reportedly showed the message to the 3 Senators from Ekiti who left the funeral service at Ikere with him to his office for lunch.
While Fayemi used the meeting in his house to decide who will lead the House of Assembly without the courtesy of carrying the governor along, Hon. Gboyega Aribisogan representing Ikole constituency 1 against the run of play rallied 17 members of the House to emerge the Speaker.
Aribisogan along with his like minds want a House free from external influence. With his plan to control the House hitting the rock with the emergence of Aribisogan, Fayemi rallied his troops and got the members to impeach Aribisogan, within 48 hours and install his own puppet, Olubunmi Adelugba from Emure Ekiti as the first female Speaker in the state.
Some political actors and leaders in Ekiti have described the removal of Aribisogan as unconstitutional and illegal prompting legal luminaries and prominent Indigenes of the state to make a public intervention on the illegality of the process that removed Aribisogan.
The letter jointly signed by Cheif Afe Babalola, SAN, Femi Falana, SAN, Dele Adesina, SAN, Dayo Akinlaja, SAN and two others continues to generate ripples across the state.
From available information, the eminent Ekiti senior lawyers made their intervention public to prevent a hostile House of Assembly to Governor Oyebanji and they don’t want Fayemi to become a needless distraction to the new governor.
Someone close to the prominent lawyers also said, as leaders in Ekiti in their own right, they don’t want any godfather who will dictate who gets what in Ekiti.
A political associate of Fayemi who does not want his name mentioned, said Chief Afe Babalola and the other prominent lawyers have their own axe to grind with the former governor and as such their intervention was not entirely altruistic.
He particularly said Chief Babalola wanted Fayemi to construct some internal roads within his Afe Babalola university, a request Fayemi rejected because the state has been generous in many ways to support the university.
A former Commissioner in Fayemi’s administration told WesternPost: “The crisis rocking the state House of Assembly is at the instance of Fayemi. He wants to have a control of the State Assembly to be able to checkmate and control the governor. Fayemi and his people nurse the fear that Oyebanji will become a man of his own and the only way they can make him to fall in line is to have firm control of the House and to dangle it on him every time. They said they want to use the Lagos model where the governor does not have any influence on the House.”
Oyebanji has not filled his cabinet. He has only made about 10 appointments which include the SSG, Commissioner of Finance, Akin Oyebode, Chief Press Secretary/Adviser, Yinka Oyebode, Commissioner for Health, Oyebanji Filani and 8 other Special Advisers. Fayemi according to our source is not happy with the appointment of Chief Jide Awe, former APC state chairman as Special Adviser.
While some of the fresh appointees are key role players in Fayemi’s administration, other former appointees are currently putting pressure on Fayemi to get them into the Oyebanji’s government.
The major sticking point between Fayemi and Oyebanji at the moment, according to insiders, is the choice of Chief of Staff to the governor. Fayemi wants the governor to retain, Tolu Ibitola as Chief of Staff to complete his control of the levers of Ekiti government. Tolu was Personal Assistant, Deputy Chief of Staff later Chief of Staff to Fayemi.
Governor Oyebanji is not ready to appoint Tolu as his Chief of Staff to insulate his own government from unnecessary leaks and overbearing influence Fayemi wants to have on him. Having Tolu as Chief of Staff is like running government at a gun point according to a source.
“Governor Oyebanji does not want to have any big brother watching over him. Appointing Tolu as Chief of Staff is like being a governor at gun point. It is not healthy for any governor and Oyebanji is not ready for that. That is why he has not appointed a Chief of Staff. How long he will be able to hold out is what people are watching from the sideline,” said the source.
The source said Oyebanji is resisting filling his administration with all Fayemi appointees and he has told everyone seeking appointments to go to their constituencies and communities to ensure APC win all elections in the coming 2023 general elections in the state.
The governor said those seeking to be appointed into government positions should prove their electoral value in their communities first.
He has put appointments on hold till after election next year by which time he hopes all court cases instituted against him by Chief Segun Oni, his major opposition challenger would have been dispensed with. (Western Post)
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