OYO ASSEMBLY GETS NEW SPEAKER
“The former speaker was a man of peace and in honour of his memory, we should not be seen by the public as fighting over who should take over the seat after his demise.There is always a lacuna in the constitution and rather than airing our differences in public, we should resolve this at the committee level,” he said.
The Deputy Speaker, Musah Abdulwasi, who presided over plenary, subsequently constituted a nine-member committee including the two contestants, Ojo and Abdulwasi and suspended the plenary for 20 minutes to allow the committee reach a decision.
“History is being made today and it is good that a section of the constitution is put to test and whatever decision we arrive at today, will be a subject of many legal debates.We, however, know that we are here to represent the people and hold our responsibility seriously’.
“This conflict over whether to have an election or not is not a conflict within us, but some external bodies are trying to manipulate and dictate our decisions to us.We must however put aside our differences in honour of the departed and for the continued peaceful coexistence of this assembly.
“It is worthy to note that in the event of an election, there will be a winner and a loser but the aftermath is that the assembly would have been polarised into two camps and that does not speak well for the existing peace in the house.No sacrifice is too much for the attainment of peace,”Abdulwasi said.
He called on the Clerk of the House, Paul Bankole, to make a call for the election.
In a related development, Ademola Ige (Accord-Ibadan South East II), emerged the new Minority Leader of the assembly, while Ige, who was nominated by Akande and Oyatokun Oyeleke of Afijio State Constituency, promised to uphold the good works of the legislature.
