Snake invasion: Assembly lawmakers threaten to disapprove Ondo N30bn loan request

Lawmakers in the Ondo State House of Assembly seem to set for a
showdown with the state governor, Mr. Rotimi Akeredolu, over his
vituperation against the lawmakers on the snake invasion saga that
rocked the state assembly last week.

The lawmakers who threatened to frustrate and decline passage to
a proposed N30billion loan by the state governor for developmental
projects in the state if the governor fails to renovate the state
Assembly complex.

In an interview with journalists, the Chairman House Committee
on Information, Hon. Gbenga Omole, maintained that the lawmakers
were not out to blackmail the governor or government as insinuated
by Akeredolu during his visit to the Assembly complex.

He said: “They want to borrow money now. I am a member of the
Appropriation Committee. They want to borrow N30 billion. If they
did not do what we want, we will not allow that to happen.

“It is not going to be business as usual. That is my own stand
as the spokesperson of the House. Do they not repair their own
offices? The truth is that they will give them small money and they
will pass the budget, the one that concern them will not be
addressed. We are not going to take that this time around.

“We cannot say because we are friends to the governor and not
say the truth, they repair their offices. Let us expose the
leadership of the House, the Speaker said money is voted for the
renovation every year, but it is not backed with cash. They did not
release money for repair, yet you pass their budgets.

“Out of the money, they said they want to rehabilitate the
Accountant General’s office, they want to repair the Accountant
General’s office, you don’t want to repair the independent arm of
government. It is not going to happen. The worst is that they will
not give us a second term but we will do what the people of Ondo
State like.”

Speaking on the snake invasion, Omole said “the truth of the
matter is that that place needs attention. The way they merged the
issue of the snake with the collapsed part of the building is the
issue. The termites have eaten the roof of the building.

“There was a snake invasion on Wednesday, but on Thursday when
we were about to sit, we discovered termites have eaten the roof.
The question is that termites did not start eating the place in the
last two years. It has been the failure of the leadership of the
House in the past Assembly.

“To set the record straight, we never sat on Wednesday and
Thursday. Actually, we wanted to sit on Thursday, but when we came
in some part of the roof have caved-in.

“I granted the interview that on Wednesday that there was a
snake and we could not sit, it is not that snake chased us out of
the chamber. That was what everybody wrote. Journalists have the
liberty to write what they wanted to write.

“On the issue of termites, everybody knows that place needs a
facelift; that is a fact that the governor knows. It is the joining
of the snake with termites that embarrassed the governor.

“The governor accused us of blackmail, why is it that the past
leadership of the House has not done anything about it. Every year
they put renovation of the Assembly in the budget and it was not
implemented. The executive brings in budget and you passed it at a
place that is termite infested.”

Recall that the state governor, Akeredolu, lambasted the
lawmakers over the allegation that snakes prevented them from
carrying out their legislative duties, describing it as
embarrassing and an attempt to ridicule and blackmail his
administration.

Akeredolu who visited the Assembly complex after the report that
snakes chased out lawmakers from the plenary queried the lawmakers.
He said: “Did you see any green snake here? You said snake chased
you out of this place and that you adjourned sine-die. How did you
combine what happened here yesterday with your snake if it is not
grand connivance by yourselves?

“What I have come to do is to verify what has happened. I have
seen that what has happened is that there is an attempt to
blackmail the state and I think the government will not take it. I
was given the facts and I want to be sure that the Speaker and that
most of the officers are here.

“No snake fell here yesterday or day before yesterday, they were
not sitting when the ceiling came down. They only met the ceiling
that it came down. It was not that they were sitting.

“And all the pictures that were put up there are fake. There was
no sitting; the ceiling did not collapse while they were sitting.
How did you come about that story? How did you come about putting
one giant snake or python; it does not exist here. How did you come
about it?

“There is an attempt to blackmail the government and I don’t
believe that is the best approach. This is an arm of government and
they have their votes and what they are entitled to, is the one we
give them. This place is termite infested and certainly, the
termites have been dwelling here for several years. We have just
come for two years; there is no way termites’ infestation in two
years would cause such destruction.

“Something is wrong, this place has not been maintained and
members of the House have always been here, what have they done
about the maintenance of this place? If they have not been
concerned about it, we have to sit down at the table and work
things out.”

Meanwhile, the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the
state has described the development in the state House of Assembly
as unfortunate.

The party which attributed the development in the state House of
Assembly to the toothless leadership foisted to serve as a
rubber-stamp to Executive recklessness, advising the lawmakers to
live above “pettiness and deliver nothing other than good
governance.”

The PDP statement read: “Our party uses this opportunity to
advise the Honourable members to rise up in defence of the people’s
mandate given to them and to save the legislative arm of government
from ridicule.

“PDP notes the recent unfortunate incident that occurred at the
Ondo State House of Assembly, where members allegedly fled the
hallowed chambers due to the presence of a snake within the
legislative hall. This event calls for deep concern from all
citizens.

“And now that such issue has become a subject of unfortunate
accusation and counter-accusation from the people whose heads carry
the mandate of the masses, with an arm of government name tagging
the other arm as blackmailers, we will hope the matter will get the
required investigative attention and the records be set straight as
a show of respect for the mandate the good people of Ondo
State.”

Akintoye said further that “it is on record that the Rt. Hon.
Oloyelogun-led APC dominated House of Assembly has not lived up to
its responsibilities as an independent arm of government.

“While not giving credence to the name tag of blackmail as
expressed by the executive, the present state of decay and
infrastructure neglect at the Assembly, shows poor management of
the synergy expected of two independent arms of government that
should be working together for the good of our people.

“We are concerned as citizens of this great state, and our
concern is that this legislature may not serve the best interest of
the people considering its perceived submission of its independence
to the whims and caprices of the Executive arm of government.

“We further note with great worries that the tenure of this
present Assembly may end up being with little or no benefit or
impact on the life of the people as it has continued to portray
itself as installed to serve the interest of its paymaster.”