Adeleye Kunle Reports
There was uproar yesterday at the Ogun State House of Assembly leading to the suspension of its plenary following the sudden disappearance of the Assembly Mace.
This is the second time the emblem of authority is declared missing under the leadership of the embattled Speaker, Olakunle Oluomo, TrackNews Nigeria understands.
This platform had reported earlier that Oluomo is currently standing trial at a Federal High Court in Lagos following his arrest by operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.
The speaker was arrested over allegations bordering on corruption, forgery and financial impropriety.
However, there were moves to impeach the embattled speaker in his absentia on Thursday.
The development, according to reports, led to the stealing of the Mace which is the staff of authority of the state’s legislative arm.
Stealing the Mace, TrackNews Nigeria understands, will prevent the lawmakers from achieving their aims of impeaching Oluomo when the House was scheduled to hold its plenary session at the Assembly complex, yesterday.
The Mace was first reported missing on December 2020 but was later recovered by the Lagos Police Command at Abule Ado Area in Lagos State.
Also, it is worthy to note that this is the third consecutive time the Ogun State lawmakers will be missing their plenary since the arrest of the Speaker last week Thursday.
Vanguard Newspaper reports that as of 2 PM yesterday, security operatives present at the assembly complex were still demanding that journalists obtain clearance from the Head of the Assembly’s media, who refused to pick up his calls.
A source closed to the Assembly, who spoke anonymously with newsmen, however, said that the Mace had disappeared from the complex to prevent the lawmakers, particularly the Assembly’s Deputy Speaker, Mr Akeem Balogun, who is statutorily saddled with the responsibility of conducting the business of the Assembly from presiding, which included the Speaker’s impeachment.
According to him, at least 16 lawmakers have already appended their signatures consenting to impeach the embattled Speaker.
But in an attempt to prevent the exercise from holding, some lawmakers said to be loyal to Oluomo allegedly conspired and moved the Mace away, TrackNews Nigeria learnt.
