Terrified lawmakers in the Ekiti State House of Assembly have vowed never to step into the hallowed chamber until they are spiritually sure of their safety.

While some of them are said to have engaged the services of Christian prayer warriors and spiritualists, on the heels of an alleged voodoo scare in the Assembly, others who spoke to Sunday Sun expressed fear for their lives, saying the diabolical dimension infused into the crisis rocking the state legislature confirmed their earlier concern.

The crisis assumed a scary dimension on Wednesday when an oily substance was said to have been sprinkled on the seats of the lawmakers.
The legislators expressed shock that the fetish act took place despite the fact that the chamber had been under lock and key since the Speaker, Femi Bamisile, was impeached by 18 (G18) of the 26 lawmakers under controversial circumstances on July 9 and replaced with Tunji Odeyemi.

Bamisile has, however, insisted that he remains the Speaker as efforts are said to be on by his party, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), to give him a soft landing.
One of the principal officers, who preferred anonymity, said he was scared and swore not to step into the chamber until his safety is assured by men of God.
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) lawmaker wondered how the alleged herbalists gained entry into the chamber when it was still locked.

Another legislator, Bolu Akomolafe, representing Ikere Constituency II, said the G-18 was vindicated by the juju scare, saying they have been expressing fear for their lives.
Spokesman for the G-18, Morakinyo Adebayo, when contacted on the juju incident, said he was disappointed.

According to him, it was ridiculous that some people think they could have their way in the Assembly using fetish means.
Some of the Assembly staff also told Sunday Sun that they had resorted to prayers, disclosing that a prayer session was held on Thursday morning to nullify the efficacy of the substance allegedly sprinkled on the seats of the members.
According to the staff, who spoke on condition of anonymity, "we believe with the prayer, whatever the juju was meant for would not come to pass, because the power of God is above all other powers," but added that no one can tell how the perpetrators gained entry into the place because the doors were locked.

When asked if he suspected anyone, he sized the reporter up and walked away without uttering a word.
Some politicians in the state had pointed accusing fingers at an ex-governor of the state, Ayodele Fayose, saying he was behind Bamisile’s impeachment so he could get at the sitting governor, Segun Oni.

Besides, there have been speculations that the G-18, which comprises 13 Action Congress (AC) and five PDP legislators, were plotting to impeach the governor.
Fayose, however, refused to comment on the furore in the Assembly, saying he would rather adopt a ‘siddon look’ attitude.

"No comment! At the moment, silence is golden on all maters. I don’t want to be involved in the matters going on in the House. I still ‘siddon dey look.’ At the appointed time I will talk. I want the people to see the difference between oil and water," Fayose told Sunday Sun in a telephone interview.
When our reporter pressed for his comment on the alleged juju scare at the Assembly, he said: "It was very, very shameful. Nothing of this kind happened during our own time, but I don’t want to comment. I still ‘dey siddon look.’"

In a similar vein, spokesman for Dr Kayode Fayemi, the AC governorship candidate in the April 2007 election, Yemi Adaramodu, said it was regrettable that the state "formerly adjudged the most peaceful state in Nigeria had gone into a moral denudation that peace and development had became scarce commodities in the fountain of knowledge."

"We were jolted by the reports that marabouts had invaded the Assembly chambers to plant fetish substances on the seats diabolically to harm legislators who might be too strong to break.
"The intention of the hatchers of this heinous plot was to sacrifice not too few honourable members as eternal ransom to an ousted legislative leadership that had expired in morals, virtues and value."
But despite the series of meetings between the governor and the legislators on one hand and between the G-18 and the other eight legislators, the crisis is yet to be resolved.

Sunday Sun investigation revealed that the five PDP legislators who joined the 13 other AC colleagues to impeach Bamisile have refused to shift ground on the decision of the G-18 not to allow him preside over the next sitting of the lawmakers, as reportedly proposed by the leadership of their party in order to give Bamisile a soft landing.

Our reporter also gathered that the leadership of the PDP wants to save Bamisile’s political future by asking for a chance for him to tender his resignation immediately after presiding over the sitting. But the five PDP legislators, who are now seen as conspirators by their PDP colleagues, are said to have rejected the proposal.
Sunday Sun learnt that one of the five legislators that is very outspoken was allegedly attacked on three different occasions by Bamisile.
It was alleged that Bamisile hit the said Cicero with a chair and on another occasion slapped in the face when, according to sources, he could no longer bear the invectives directed at him at a reconciliation meeting.

One of the PDP lawmakers told Sunday Sun that the House would never be the same again even after the current crisis is resolved because the eight lawmakers sympathetic to Bamisile would find it difficult to trust the other five who joined the AC members to impeach Bamisile.