ABEOKUTA – The impeached Speaker of Ogun State House of Assembly, Hon. Olakunle Taiwo Oluomo has debunked the report by the seven-man panel of the State House of Assembly that he staged a walk out during his appearance before the ad-hoc Committee of the House.
The ex-Speaker explained this today in Abeokuta, the state capital.
He emphasized that he honoured the invitation of the House panel due to the respect he has for the legislature as an arm of government.
“An invite to appear before a panel was received in my office around 10.45 am but got to me at exactly 11.30am and I was asked to appear by 3pm (same day). I took off and got there even before the stipulated time because I have much regard for the legislature, especially as a lawmaker myself.
“When the sitting began and I was asked to respond to some allegations, I simply told them it would be prejudicial to talk about a matter that is already before the court,” he said.
Oluomo pointed out that he had to remind the Honourable members of relevant sections of the constitution and Assembly rules which negated the timing and detailing of the allegations as well as composition of the panel.
“I quoted at the sitting that section 36 (6) of the Constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria as amended emphasized giving of details and enough time for response, as well as order two, rule 9 (vii) of the Harmonized standing orders of the Houses of Assembly which forbids any member that is a signatory to the notice of impeachment from being a member of the Committee, since one cannot be a judge in his own case.
“When the chairman insisted on reading the allegations to me, I told him that the law says the allegations should be in writing and I should be given ample time to respond.
“After my submissions, I took the permission of the Committee to take a bow and leave”.
According to him, “I look forward to our Party (APC) and the Governor of Ogun State, Prince Dapo Abiodun who is a respecter of law to take appropriate action on the continuous illegality being done at the Assembly chambers”.
