By Ola Ajayi & Emmanuel Aziken
Posted to the Web: Tuesday, January 09, 2007

IBADAN — THE 18 pro Adedibu legislators in the Oyo State House of Assembly, yesterday, issued a 24-hour ultimatum to the 13-pro-Ladoja assemblymen to return all official property in their possession.

Governor Rashidi Ladoja is scheduled to meet in Ibadan today with the pro-Adedibu legislators who last year impeached him. The impeachment was voided only last month by the Supreme Court.

Akala's office relocated

And last night, the office of Deputy Governor, Otunba Adebayo Alao-Akala, was reportedly relocated from the building he shared with Governor Ladoja to the Ministry of Environment at Government Secretariat, Agodi, Ibadan. Sources said it was to prevent possible clash between supporters of the governor and those of the deputy governor.

The G-18 legislators said yesterday their ultimatum to the pro-Ladoja assemblymen was prompted by the declaration of their seats vacant by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
A December 29, 2006 but unsigned statement by INEC said bye elections to fill the vacant 13 seats in Oyo and 20 others in Sokoto as well as one in Rivers and a Federal Constituency seat in Osun State would be held on Saturday, January 13, 2007.
INEC Commissioner in charge of political parties, Dr. Ishmael Igbani confirmed yesterday that the commission had indeed declared the seats vacant based on a letter from the Oyo State Assembly.
He told Vanguard that INEC had concluded arrangement to conduct bye elections to fill the vacant seats, although he explained that lack of funds might pose a problem having the bye-elections this weekend.

Leader of the pro-Ladoja assemblymen, Mr. Adeolu Adeleke has asked the INEC chairman, Professor Maurice Iwu to speak out on the issue.
Meanwhile, the opposition Action Congress (AC) has directed its candidates in this year’s elections to ignore the planned verification of candidates' ducuments by INEC, saying the commission lacks power to conduct such an exercise.

Governor Ladoja’s planned meeting, today, with the pro-Adedibu lawmakers who initiated his removal early last year is part of the effort to resolve the political impasse in the state. But the lawmakers said that they would only meet the governor without the other 13 legislators in attendance, because, according to them, the G-13 seats have been declared vacant.
The G-18 lawmakers at their sitting yesterday said consequent upon the reports that the seats of the 13 lawmakers had been declared vacant by INEC, the pro-Ladoja lawmakers should return all the property in their possession within 24 hours.

The motion which was moved by Mr Babatunde Eesuola and seconded by Mr. Wale Atilola described the attitude of the embattled legislators as criminal. It said it was unconstitutional of them to have abandoned their duty posts to serve an individual. They said they were prepared to welcome a new crop of legislators on Monday to replace the lawmakers who have left their posts for about a year now.
They also ordered the administrative staff of the 13 legislators to resume tomorrow, adding that failure to do so might attract serious punishment.

The pro-Ladoja’s lawmakers whose seats were declared vacant are: Adeolu Adeleke (Speaker) representing Afijio Constituency, Dauda Atilola representing Oyo East and West, Oyeleke S.A. representing Ogo Oluwa & Surulere, Adegbenjo I..T representing Ibarapa Central& North, Olaniyan D. representing Ibadan North 1, Ojekunle J.O representing Irepo & Olorunsogo, Ogundoke D.H representing Iseyin & Itesiwaju, Josiah O.I representing Ibadan North West, Amoo B.A. representing Saki East & Atisbo, Adedokun M. O. representing Ibadan North II, Busari S.O. representing Egbeda, Alarape Azeez Mukaila representing Saki West, and Egunjobi S.M representing Iwajowa.

Embattled Speaker seeks Obasanjo's intervention

Meanwhile, leader of the pro-Ladoja legislators, Mr Adeolu Adeleke, has called on the Chairman of INEC, Prof. Maurice Iwu, to make a categorical statement on the issue to ease tension in the state. Speaking with reporters, Mr Adeleke also appealed to President Olusegun Obasanjo to urgently look into the crisis to prevent unnecessary anarchy which is looming in the state. He said the president should treat Oyo State as an integral part of the country and should not fold his arms while the state is boiling.

According to him, the National Chairman of INEC should make a categorical statement on the issue in line with the constitution and the rule of law, as according to him, this would reduce the political tension in the state and in the country as a whole.
He argued that INEC did not have any constitutional backing to take such steps when he and his colleagues had several times notified the Police of how the G-18 lawmakers “have been trailing us trying to kill us.”

He said: “To the best of our knowledge, the National Chairman of INEC knows full well that there is insecurity in the state legislative arm. When two of our colleagues were stabbed on the floor of the House, the case was reported to the Police but nothing came out of it. Also, the invasion of the House by hoodlums with the connivance of the police has become a daily affair with a view to harming us. In view of this, we strongly appeal to the National Chairman of INEC, Prof. Maurice Iwu, to follow the path of honour by obeying the court order and not to be used to desecrate and bastardise the Nigerian constitution.

“There are two ways why INEC can conduct by-elections in our respective constituencies. If peradventure we did not meet the statutory requirement of the number of days we are supposed to be in the House. But, If there is a genuine cause for us to be absent, then INEC cannot go ahead and declare our seats vacant. The G-18 lawmakers have been chasing us about attempting to kill us, nobody in the highest authority has said anything about it up till today. So when there is insecurity, we did not deem it safe to sit in the House. As I am talking to you now, there are thousands of thugs in the state Assembly. How can you sit in that situation with no protection from the police?

“Apart from the subsisting order by a Federal Court in Ibadan , we also have the Supreme Court judgement which affirmed our membership in the House and we are expecting another court judgement today in respect of the position of the speaker of the House. Are they trying to pre-empt the judgement of the court? Just three months to the elections, nobody could have envisaged that INEC could do something like this.

“Before the reinstatement of the governor on December 9, 2006, there was an attempt by the lawmakers who carried out the unlawful removal of the governor to declare our seats vacant in the House. A resolution was passed to that effect, but the INEC did promise not to conduct any by-election in view of the fact that the issue was still in court and the case is till pending up till now.
“It is highly saddening to now hear from INEC that our seats have been declared vacant after the reinstatement of the governor. Can we say that INEC did not expect the governor to be back in office? Or did they not expect him to get fair judgement? Every right thinking Nigerian knows that there is insecurity in the Oyo State House of Assembly and our colleagues who carried out the illegal impeachment have been coming to the House with hoodlums and we have reported this to the police several times.”

At 12:30 pm yesterday, the state Public Relations Officer of INEC, Mr. Ayodele Folami said the commission was yet to receive any notice from the head office in Abuja .“We have not received any notice from our head office declaring any seat vacant let alone conducting by-elections,” he said.
All the party leaders who should be notified if there is going to be any by-election also denied receiving any document to that effect.

AC directs candidates to shun INEC verification Committees

And yesterday, the Action Congress (AC) directed its candidates for all elective positions to ignore the verification committees constituted by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) just as it claimed the whole exercise was a witch-hunt against its presidential candidate, Vice-President Atiku Abubakar.
In a statement, AC said the determination of the electoral regulatory body to take upon itself the power to verify the credentials of the delegates despite the unconstitutionality of its moves indicated a premeditated agenda.

The statement issued by Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the AC national publicity secretary was in response to the INEC rebuttal of criticisms against its efforts at verification.
“The Action Congress will not be a party to any unconstitutional or illegal act. It has directed all its nominated candidates to ignore the so-called verification exercise and has at the same time gone to challenge this unconstitutional and illegal act of INEC in court,” the party said.

Alleging that the verification was a witch-hunt against the AC presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku, the party said “the electoral body was only targeting Vice President Atiku Abubakar, in line with its masters’ pathological fear of the VP’s candidature.”
The AC statement followed claims by INEC’s National Commissioner in charge of Legal Matters, Alhaji M.A. Abubakar, that the commission was guided by Sections 65, 66, 106, 131, 177, 107, 137, and 182 of the Constitution in carrying out the verification exercise.

In a point-by-point rebuttal of the claims, the AC said: “For the avoidance of doubt, Section 65 of the 1999 Constitution deals only with the qualification for membership of the National Assembly, while Section 66 deals with grounds on which a person may be ineligible for membership of the National Assembly.

“Section 106 deals with the qualification for membership of the House of Assembly while Section 107 deals with grounds for disqualification for the same house. Section 131 deals with qualification for election as the President while Section 137 focuses only on grounds for disqualification for the same office. Section 182 only deals with grounds of disqualification for the office of the governor.
“If anyone is in further doubt that INEC has no power to conduct verification of candidates claims, Section 15 of the 3rd Schedule to the 1999 Constitution puts the matter beyond doubt,” the party said.

The AC said under the Electoral Act 2006, only the political parties could screen candidates and were liable to pay penalties for presenting unqualified candidates. The statement further said the courts were the only authority with the power to disqualify candidates based on petitions arising from members of the public.