Ekiti Assembly Impeaches Aribisogan, Elects First Female Speaker
BARELY after six days after his election, Speaker of the Ekiti State House of Assembly, Gboyega Aribisogan, was on Monday, November 21 impeached and suspended indefinitely by 17 lawmakers for blocking the passage of the 2023 Supplementary Appropriation Bill.
Aribisogan was immediately replaced by the Assembly Chief Whip, Olubunmi Adelugba from Emure Constituency, who was unanimously elected the new Speaker by all the 17 lawmakers present at a plenary presided over by Deputy Speaker, Hakeem Jamiu.
The oath of office and the oath of allegiance were immediately administered to Adelugba, who became the first female Speaker in the history of the state Assembly since the return to democracy in 1999.
Thanking her colleagues for finding her worthy to be elected, the new Speaker promised not to take the trust and confidence reposed in her for granted. She later adjourned sittings indefinitely.
Six other lawmakers were also suspended for compromising the process of the election that produced Aribisogan as the speaker on November 15, among other alleged unpatriotic and unparliamentary conducts capable of threatening the peace of the state.
Aribisogan and the six erring lawmakers were subsequently barred from the vicinity of the Assembly Complex within 1.5 km radius for their acts, which, according to their colleagues, offend the provisions of the House Standing Rules and the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
The six lawmakers suspended and barred alongside the impeached speaker are Tajudeen Akingbolu (Ekiti West 1), Tope Ogunleye (Ilejemeje), Ajibade Adeyemi (Moba 1), Adekemi Balogun (Ado 1), Yemi Ayokunle (Ekiti Southwest 1) and Adegoke Olajide (Efon).
The legislative penalties meted out to Aribisogan and his accomplices followed the consideration and adoption of the report of a six-member Adhoc Investigative Committee constituted to look into the circumstances surrounding the non-passage of the 2022 Appropriation Bill, which they said could cripple governance in the state.
Jamiu, who presided over the plenary until the election of Adelugba, had earlier dissolved all existing principal positions and appointed Johnson Oyekola Bode-Adeoye as the new leader of Government Business, while also resuscitating the already dissolved Committee on Appropriation.
Adelugba, after adjourning plenary, led her colleagues to the state secretariat of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to officially inform party leaders of the change of leadership in the Assembly.
