The Ondo State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), on Thursday, petitioned the state’s House of Assembly to impeach Governor Rotimi Akeredolu over what the party called constitutional breaches, saying the governor had violated the 1999 constitution of the country as amended.
The call was contained in a statement signed by the state Publicity Secretary of the party, Kennedy Peretei, who alleged that the governor had stayed out of the state for six months while the state had been on auto-pilot.Peretei stated that the handlers of the governor and government had been mute over the whereabouts of the governor, saying rather than tell the people of the state the truth, they chose to insult the sensibilities of the people with public display of their ignorance.
The PDP as such called on the State Assembly to invoke sections 189(1) to cause a Medical Panel to be instituted to ascertain Akeredolu’s medical status and do the needful in the interest of the people of the state.
The PDP statement read: “The time has come for the Ondo State House of Assembly to immediately begin the impeachment process of Rotimi Akeredolu, SAN for violation of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended.
It is no longer news that Ondo State has been on auto-pilot for nearly six months, grounding all activities of the government due to the ill health of the Governor.
“Unfortunately, rather than tell the citizens the truth, most of Akeredolu’s handlers have resorted to insulting the sensibilities of the people by making a public show of their ignorance.
The handling of Akeredolu’s condition by his aides has robbed the Governor of public sympathy”
Peretei stated that: “The Constitution envisaged that, it is possible for a State Governor to be ill or incapacitated as it is the case with Akeredolu now and therefore made safeguards.
Section 193(2) states expressly that “the Governor of a state shall hold regular meetings with the Deputy Governor and all Commissioners of the Government of the State for the purposes of – Determine the general direction of policies of the state amongst other provisions”
He, however, queried that; “when was the last time Akeredolu held a State Executive Council meeting? It is not a crime to be ill, but that will not be reason an entire state must be brought to its knees.
“The Ondo State Chapter of PDP calls on the State Assembly to invoke sections 189(1) to cause a Medical Panel to be instituted to ascertain Akeredolu’s medical status and do the needful in the interest of the people of the state.
“Our party wishes to urge the Governor’s aides to stop ridiculing themselves by defending the indefensible and standing logic on its head”.
But the Ondo Assembly through the Majority leader, Hon. Oluwole Ogunmolasuyi, described the PDP position calling for the impeachment of Akeredolu as laughable and urged the party to properly do its homework.
Ogunmolasuyi noted that the opposition party lacked knowledge about governance and about the duties of a governor saying Akeredolu has been performing his constitutional duties as expected and has not breached any aspect of the Constitution.
The majority leader said the Assembly noted the ongoing developmental projects across the state including prompt payment of salaries and clearing of backlog of salary arrears.
He said the PDP did not in know whether the State Executive Council meeting held or not, urging the people to ignore the call from PDP.
According to him, “The Governor is doing his duties. Everything is going on well in the state. We have met with the Governor and all those that want to meet with him.
“If the Governor is not doing what he supposed to do, we will question him. He has sign all bills brought before him. What we know is that the PDP is a dead party. They cannot stipulate the duties of a Governor.”
