Sacked Ondo-State Female Speaker Re-Instated

Ondo-state first female speaker house of assembly Hon Jumoke Akindele was booted out by the male dominated Assembly on the exact day women across the globe were marking International Women’s Day.

Governor Olusegun Mimiko was the angel God sent to deliver her as she walked through the “valley of the shadow of death” at 10pm-an unholy time to stab her in the back by her supposedly trusted colleagues. Mimiko’s, timely intervention gave her a breather at the eleventh hour as she was delivered from the claws of the members of the Assembly. But suspicion has set in between her and the “18 coup planners” Although Akindele was their main target, the coup planners would not want to be unfair to the women folk if she goes down alone so they threw the baby and the bath water away by sacking all the principal officers in the assembly in a blanket sweep.

But political observers in the state argued that the last has not been heard on the hullabaloo in the 8th assembly. Their postulation is that if the sack of the speaker by 18 of the 26 members of the assembly had the input of the opposition All Progressive Congress, APC, then the people of the state should seat back for the unfolding season drama that may ultimately target the governor.

However, Iroko according to one of his aides “is too experienced to be caught unawares in such a game”. Although some of the aides of the governor said that he was privy to the frosty relationship between the speaker and her honourable colleagues but prefers that they “sort themselves out.” He was however said not to have expected the matter to degenerate to that level.

The governor who was away in Abuja had to race back home to save the speaker and others from the mouth of the lions who were about swallowing them and consign their less than a year tenure to the dustbin of history. His meeting with the warring lawmakers failed to resolve the crisis on the first day and had to continue the following day.

The meeting which was held at the government house ground behind closed doors for over five hours, members reportedly tabled the sins of their prey and subsequently commitments were made by the governor and they came out beaming with smiles.

Few hours after the resolution the member returned to the plenary with the embattled Speaker presiding over the passage of the appropriation bill after jerking it up from N118b to N123.720b. It was amazing that the Lawmakers could not even wait till the following day to perform this constitutional duty.

The opposition APC cried foul and described the lawmakers as the walking stick of the executives. Political analysts are of the view that the sack of the speaker, her deputy, Fatai Olotu and all the principal officers has created a sharp division amongst the members of the Assembly and henceforth things may never be the same again. Timely intervention of the governor not-withstanding, distrust will most likely prevail among them till further notice.

The cup of the speaker became full a week ago and his “ boys” – as he, according to them, used to refer to them during official engagements – finalized their plan to boot her out. But they chose an odd hour of the day which attracted condemnation across the sunshine state.

Questions were asked that if the lawmakers really wanted to go the hog by dealing with the Speaker they ought to have waited till the breaking of the day and not congregate in a beer parlour at 10pm to announce the sack of the Speaker, her deputy Fatai Olotu and all the principal officers. Political observers in the state are also at a loss as to the involvement of 14 PDP members who are first timers and who could best be regarded as the “Iroko foot soldiers” in the Assembly sack saga.