Oct 14th, 2009
Ondo Assembly Refuses to Admit Labour Lawmaker
The newly elected Labour Party lawmaker representing Akure North Local government area of Ondo, Adeniyi Akindele was on Tuesday turned back by the leadership of state parliament who refused to swear him as the lawmaker representing his constituency.
It was the second time that the leadership of the Assembly, which is controlled by the Peoples Democratic Party lawmakers, would frustrate Mr Akindele’s ambition to be inducted into the house.
Mr. Akindele, who got to the premises of the Assembly around 10.am in company of his wife, members of the Labour Party, which include the chairman of the Labour Party, Olaiya Oni and a notable traditional ruler from his constituency, was shocked when he learnt that he would not be sworn in.
The swearing in was based on the inability of the new lawmaker to present a certificate of return presented to him as winner of the election by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
During the parliamentary meeting of the house caucus, which began around 10:30 am, a motion of notice that was filed before the Federal High Court, Akure restraining the house from swearing in the lawmaker was presented to the assembly.
The motion of notice, filed by Akinsola Idowu, Ebenezer Alabi and Oluwole Ogunlade, all of the PDP, sought to restrain Mr Akindele from presenting himself as the lawmaker representing Akure North.
The interlocutory injunction also sought to restrain the man from being inaugurated as a member of the state parliament.
Joined in the suit were the Speaker of the Assembly, the new lawmaker-elect, the Labour Party, the Resident Electoral Commissioner and the Independent National Electoral Commission.
The PDP lawmakers in the assembly argued that since there was a court order restraining the house, the swearing in should not hold as stipulated. In order to seek clarification on the legal angle to the swearing saga, the house consulted Isaacs Kekemeke Chamber, which advised the lawmakers to swear in the Labour Party candidate.
Swear the man in
Mr Kekemeke, in the letter written to the leadership of the house, said since the Independent Electoral Commission had declared Akindele as the winner of the election, the house has no right to stop him from being fully integrated into the assembly.
The parliamentary meeting also witnessed a hot debate on why the swearing in was included in the order paper of Tuesday’s proceedings. The PDP lawmakers accused their labour counterpart of smuggling in the swearing in ceremony into the order paper unilaterally.
However, the minority leader, Dayo Akinsoyinu absolved the ruling party lawmakers of the allegation.
“People have the right to suggest what will be in the order paper, it does not mean that it has been accepted by the whole house,” he said. “It is when it is being circulated on the floor of the house to lawmakers that it becomes order paper.” After the parliamentary meeting, which lasted for over one hour, the lawmakers agreed that the swearing in ceremony should be shifted to Thursday. The Minority leader also said the court motion would not affect the swearing-in of the lawmaker.
He argued that election cases are not handled in ordinary law court but at election tribunals.
Mr.Akindele, the former Vice Chairman of the Akure North Local Government, won the September 19 House of Assembly election, after polling over 15, 000 votes to beat his closest rival, Akin Idowu of the PDP who scored 1,065 votes.
The election was, however, criticized by the candidates of the losing parties, who accused the ruling Labour Party of orchestrating violence to scare their supporters away from the polling booths. The Labour party disputed this.
Source: 234Next.com
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SAW THIS REPORT WHICH WAS ACTUALLY A WEEKEND HEADLINE REPORT ON NIGERIAWORLD. IN CASE IT IS CALLED ANOTHER LABOUR RUSE, PLEASE NOTE THAT THE REPORT CAME WITH A COLLABORATING PHOTO. PLEASE READ ON:
Akoko: Police arrest Ogunniya with ballot boxes
From James Sowole in Akure, 12.06.2009
Saturday, December 5, 2009
Two ballot boxes stuffed with thumb printed papers were yesterday allegedly recovered in the vehicle conveying the Senator representing Ondo Central District in the Upper Chamber of the National Assembly, Senator Gbenga Ogunniya, during the bye-election of the Akoko South West and Akoko South East Federal Constituency.
Senator Ogunniya in fez cap being accosted by security operatives
PHOTO: Nigerian Tribune
Ogunniya, who is the chairman of the Senate Committee on Police Affairs, was in the vehicle along with members representing Akoko North East and North West Federal Constituency, Hon Gbenga Elegbeleye, Hon Temitayo Fawehinmi of the Ondo East and Ondo West Constituency and Hon Emmanuel Adedeji of the Ile-Oluji/Odigbo Federal Constituency.
The wine-coloured Peugeot 407 marked MHR 331 was later taken along with two other cars of similar brands with covered number plates, two police patrol vehicles with mobile policemen and two buses with suspected thugs to Kese Police Station.
However, after more than two hours at the station, the Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIG), Muktar Abbas, who was deployed specially for the election exercise from Markurdi, Benue State, said the senator and other federal lawmakers were not arrested.
The convoy of the senator along with his colleagues in the lower chamber were intercepted by that of the Deputy Governor of Ondo State, Alhaji Ali Olanusi at Owalagba area of Oka in Akoko South West Local Government.
The thugs, who were said to be carrying ballot boxes from polling units, were suspected to be from the neighbouring state as they could not speak the language of the people.
The timely intervention of the deputy governor saved what could have led to the clash between the mobile policemen in the convoy of the senator and the people of the town, who threatened to burn down the vehicles and attack the occupants.
The Assistant Commissioner of Police in charge of Operations in the Ondo State Command, Mr Tunde Gbolarumi was called in before all the vehicles and their occupants were taken to Kese Police Station in Oka Town.
While speaking with newsmen on the situation, Abbas said six thugs armed with dangerous weapons were arrested and were being kept in the custody.
The AIG, who said more than half of the men with him in the operation, added that all he was concerned about was maintenance of law and order that in order to ensure peaceful conduct of the election.
Supporting the AIG, the deputy governor said the senator and other lawmakers were not arrested and that the issue had been resolved amicably.
However, Olanusi said he had told Oguniya and his colleagues that they had no business in the area and they had agreed to leave after leaving the police station.
“I had told them to leave here peacefully and they had agreed,” he said.
Meanwhile, the bye-election was relatively peaceful in the two local governments that made up the federal constituency. In some areas, the turnout was low while in some others the turn out were high.
The relative peaceful conduct as at the time of filing this report was confirmed by the Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Dr Tayo Dairo, who said the conduct was better compared with the experience of the past.
The two major political parties Labour Party and the PDP mobilised their men to the area. The PDP mobilised both their supporters and various political state and federal political appointees and elected officers to the area to monitor the exercise
Also, men of the mobile police unit of Nigeria Police Force mounted checkpoints at various places on Owo-Ikare –Iwaro Oka road where little vehicles plying the roads were screened along with occupants.
The Akoko South- West and Akoko South- East Federal Constituency became vacant following the death of Hon Joe Anota of the People Democratic Party, who died shortly after the election.