From Bamigbola Gbolagunte, Akure
The crisis rocking the Ondo State House of Assembly yesterday took a new dimension as four suspended members of the House we’re prevented from entering the Assembly premises by security agents.
The affected lawmakers including the Deputy Speaker, Mr Iroju Ogundeji, Mrs Favour Tomomewo and Mr Wale Williams are all members of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
The security agents at the main entrance of the Assembly claimed that the Speaker of the House, Hon David Oleyelogun instructed them not to allow the lawmakers entered into the premises of the House of Assembly.
The affected lawmakers had earlier been reinstated by the court and had their suspension quashed but they were disallowed from entering the Assembly premises.
The Appeal Court sitting in Akure, the state capital , had on Wednesday upheld the judgement of the state High Court which ordered the Assembly to reinstate the embattled lawmakers and pay them all their entitlements .
The lawmakers were earlier suspended by the leadership of the House over alleged gross misconduct during a rowdy session in the wake of attempts to impeach the state deputy governor, Mr Agboola Ajayi.
Reacting to the development, the Deputy Speaker said the Assembly leadership has acted contrary to the judgment of the court, hence committed contempt.
He said “On Wednesday, the appellate court ruled that the motion brought before it concerning our suspension was frivolous and ordered that we should be reinstated to do our legislative duties immediately without hindrance. That is why we are here but on getting here, we saw that everywhere was locked and we were not allowed to enter.”
But the Chairman of the House Committee on Information, Mr Gbenga Omole said the House had not got copy of the judgment, saying that the suspended lawmakers coming to the House without copy of the judgment was mischievous and embarrassing.
“As I am speaking with you, we only read the judgment on the social media. We have not got the hard copy of the judgment. When they were coming they failed to bring copy of the judgment along because they are mischievous,” Omole said.