By Modupe Gbadeyanka
The Ekiti State House of Assembly on Monday elected Mrs Olubunmi Adelugba as its Speaker after sacking Mr Gboyega Aribisogan from the position.
Mr Aribisogan was elected Speaker of the Ekiti Assembly last week following the death of Mr Funminiyi Afuye in October.
At the plenary presided over today by the Deputy Speaker, Mr Hakeem Jamiu, a motion was moved for the impeachment of Mr Aribisogan over his failure to pass the supplementary appropriation bill submitted by the Governor of Ekiti State.
This motion was supported by all the 17 members of the assembly present at the session on Monday, and the Speaker was impeached, and Mr Adelugba was subsequently elected as his replacement.
Also, the lawmakers suspended Mr Aribisogan from the House and told him not to come close to the hollowed chamber for the next 145 days. He will also not receive any payment within the period.
In addition, the House suspended six other lawmakers for allegedly compromising the process of the election that produced Aribisogan as Speaker on November 15, among other alleged unpatriotic and unparliamentary conduct capable of threatening the peace of the state.
The other suspended legislators are Ms Yemisi Ayokunle (Ekiti Southwest 1), Mr Ajibade Adeyemi (Moba 1), Mr Adegoke Olajide (Efon), Mr Tajudeen Akingbolu (Ekiti West 1), Ms Adekemi Balogun (Ado 1), and Mr Tope Ogunleye (Ilejemeje).
Their suspension followed the consideration and adoption of the report of a six-member ad-hoc 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.
In her remarks after her election, the new Speaker representing Emure Constituency at the parliament thanked her colleagues for finding her worthy for the post, promising not to take the trust and confidence reposed in her for granted.
Mrs Adelugba later adjourned sittings of the House indefinitely.
Business Post reports that Mr Aribisogan was on Sunday Politics, a Channels TV programme, yesterday to say that some lawmakers were meeting at a hotel in the state plotting ways to impeach him today.
The former Speaker said he was in Abuja to attend an event organised by the Conference of Speakers of State Legislatures of Nigeria.
