EXCLUSIVE: Ogun lawmakers plot Amosun’s sack, list 14 impeachable offences against him
amosun
After weeks of speculations on alleged hatch to impeach Ogun State Governor, Ibikunle Amosun, the rumours may soon take a real form as the state legislature has commenced moves to oust the Governor, Daily Post reported.
According to the report, the group which is currently in the majority in the House of Assembly, has been meeting secretly to perfect plans toward actualising its resolution to the sack Amosun.
The lawmakers are said to have compiled a list of 14-point constitutional breach by the Governor which they intend to present before the plenary as soon as they perfect the plot.
Part of the allegations raised in the 14-point impeachable offences made available to DailyPost include:
1. Reckless borrowing from banks at commercial interest loan rates, and in breach of constitutional provisions. The House accuses the governor of brazenly sidelining it while committing the state to huge debt in his contract awards.
2. Exposing the state to huge debt without a functional Debt Management Office as stipulated by law.
3. Demolition of houses and business premises without adequate compensation, and where compensations were allegedly paid, such transactions have been shrouded in secrecy and questionable circumstances.
4. Illegal deductions from local government allocations in breach of constitutional provisions on the financial autonomy of the local government to administrations.
5. Misapplication of the Excess crude monies accruable to the state since 2011.
6. Illegal purchase of arms through independent arms dealers; a deal which has brought Ogun State into disrepute and shamefully place the state on the International Terror Watch list.
8. Swindling the unsuspecting citizens of Ogun State through the Home Owners charter without the necessary House of Assembly edict. Monies were illegally collected from the citizens without any legal backing.
9. Extra budgetary expenditure.
10. Deliberate withholding of the House of Assembly running costs as a punitive measure; selective application and implementation of Appropriation laws. Zero implementation of capital votes approved in the budget.
11. Awards of contracts in breach of the constitutional provisions and the Public Procurement Laws.
12. Waste of public funds on multiple awards of contracts: Ogun State money was expended on the planting of flowers under the urban renewal projects since 2011 but the flowers refused to grow. Bus- stops that were constructed with tax payers’ money were demolished less than six months later. The bridge constructed at Leme on Abiola Way was also demolished less than a year after.
13. Reckless government expenditure on the construction of pedestrian bridge at an outrageous cost of two hundred and sixty million naira (N260m) which has fallen into disuse as soon as it was constructed.
14. Selective distribution of developmental projects with brazen neglects of several parts of the state. It was gathered that the Speaker of the House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Suraj Adekunbi and his Deputy, Hon. Tola Banjo have been identified as the possible clog in the plot and the lawmakers might have concluded to begin the process with a change of guard in the leadership of the House of Assembly.
When DailyPost called Funmi Wakama, Senior Special Assistant to the governor on Media and Communication, she asked our reporter to call the Commissioner for Information (Yusuf Olaniyonu), saying he is in the best position to speak on the matter.
“Please contact the Commissioner for Information. We just left an executive council meeting so he should be available for comments.”
Phone call by DailyPost to the Commissioner’s “official telephone number” was picked by a female staff who refused to give her name.
After informing her of the news regarding the possible impeachment process, she directed our reporter to the website of Ogun State, as if the enquiry has anything to do with a government-owned portal.
“I cannot say anything on what you’re asking me. Any information you need is on the site, www.ogunstate.gov.ng,” she said and quickly disengaged.
A follow-up text message to Mrs. Wakama requesting Mr. Olaniyonu’s direct line was not replied as at the time of filing this report.
