Ekiti State Governor Ayodele Fayose
The
Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose, and the 19 aggrieved All
Progressives Congress lawmakers in the Ekiti State House of Assembly met
behind closed doors on Monday in Akure, Ondo State.
The meeting, which was held at Sunview
Hotel, Alagbaka, had five of the APC lawmakers in attendance and lasted
for over five hours.
At the meeting were the embattled
Speaker, Dr. Adewale Omirin, his deputy, Tunji Orisalade, Bunmi Orilowo,
Churchill Adedipe and Gbenga Odebunmi.
Also at the meeting were the Chief of
Staff to the Governor, Mr. Dipo Anisulowo; the Ekiti State
Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Owoseni Ajayi; a
lawmaker-elect, Mr. Kola Oluwawole, and the state Commissioner of
Police, Mr. John James.
Both parties, however, kept sealed lips on the outcome of the meeting when journalists approached them after the meeting.
Fayose said, “I don’t want to answer any
question, but we are only going to make one statement and the statement
is: today we have met, in the overall interest of our state believing
that we will be able to find solution to the problem.”
When also asked to comment, Omirin too declined comments saying, “What the governor said was actually what we have done.”
Shortly after the meeting, the governor left while the five lawmakers continued with the meeting.
The lawmakers had on April 30 shunned a
peace meeting convened by Chief Afe Babalola (SAN) to reconcile them
with the governor in Ado Ekiti citing insecurity.
However, in a statement later issued by
Omirin’s Special Adviser on Media, Wole Olujobi, the APC lawmakers, who
said they acceded to the governor’s request for a fence-mending meeting
following his phone calls to the Speaker, insisted on a return to the
status quo as at November 11, 2014 before any peace deal could be
struck.
The statement partly read, “While the
governor emphasised before the lawmakers the offer of their salaries and
other entitlements, the lawmakers insisted on return to the status quo
as at November 11, 2014.
“That means restoring all the principal
officers to their positions and all aides of the Speaker, Deputy
Speaker, including those of other principal officers should be restored
to their positions.
“The lawmakers made it clear they were
ready to return to their jobs and the governor should provide atmosphere
for that possibility. They asked the governor to clear the House of
Assembly of thugs and create conditions that would make them do their
jobs without any security threats.
“They insisted that restoring the
security aides of the principal officers and opening the Assembly for
resumption of their legal duties should be the starting point for the
restoration of peace.”
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