By Rotimi Ojomoyela  & Dirisu Yakubu

ABUJA—THE Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, yesterday, accused the All Progressives Congress, APC, of plans to initiate moves for the impeachment of Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State.

This was as the Ekiti State House of Assembly raised the alarm over  the alleged deployment of  heavily armed policemen to the premises of the Assembly without official request even as the Speaker  of the House, Pastor Kola Oluwawole ordered the indefinite closure of the House pending the time security of lawmakers and staff can be guaranteed.

The PDP said the impeachment plot, which it accused the Nigerian Police of being a party to, would breed crisis in the state if it is not nipped in the bud.

In a statement by party’s spokesman, Mr. Kola Ologbondiyan accused the APC of sinister moves to take away documents detailing how the recent governorship elections in the state were “rigged.”

The statement reads: “The PDP is aware that the plot is a desperate bid by the APC to rush into the Ekiti Government House to remove and tamper with documents and evidence confirming the rigging of the July 14 governorship election, ahead of the sitting of the election tribunal.

“Having realized that there is no way their daylight robbery at the poll can stand in the court; the APC is now employing all desperate means to subvert the course of Justice.

“This explains why a detachment of Police was hurriedly deployed to besiege the Ekiti State Assembly Complex last night without a formal request by the Speaker, the Clerk or the Sergeant-at-Arms, who is the chief security officer of the complex.

“The PDP states that any resort to underhand measures to impeach Fayose, without the constitutionally required two-thirds of members of the House, particularly at this time, when the lawmakers are currently on their annual recess, will surely be resisted by our members.”

 House shut indefinitely 

Meanwhile, the Speaker of the Assembly, Mr. Oluwawole, who briefed newsmen in Ado Ekiti on Thursday, said the anti-riot  policemen were deployed around 9 pm on Wednesday.

However, when journalists visited the Assembly as at 10.00 am on Thursday, the policemen had been withdrawn and the premises was under lock and key.

Oluwawole, in the company of 17 other members, accused members, who defected to APC prior to the July 14 governorship election, as responsible for the act.

The Speaker said: “This is strange in democracy, for lawmakers to wake up and see  unauthorised  police deployment in the legislative arm of government. On Wednesday, at about 9 pm, the police authority deployed two detachments of  heavily armed policemen to the premises of the Assembly. This came to us as a shock, because we are in recess and such action was unwarranted.

“The Assembly and the Clerk had reacted to a letter purportedly written by the latter calling for police deployment.   We have told police authority in clear terms that such document should be treated like a forged document because the Clerk could not have written any official letter without consulting with me, he worked closely with my office as a Speaker.

“Before now, we had it on good authority that police were planning to provide cover for the three defected lawmakers to perpetrate violence in the Assembly and cause confusion as well as endanger  the lives of our staff.

“As we speak, the lives of our people are no longer safe, because the police and APC thugs have laid siege to Ekiti Assembly and under this circumstance, our staff are no longer safe and we declare indefinite closure of the Assembly pending the time security can be guaranteed.

“We have not recovered  from the harassment and abduction of our members by police during the July 14 election. But let me say expressly that such strange police deployment  was unsolicited, unwarranted and ultra vires.”

Also speaking,  the Chairman,  House Committee on Information, Mr. Samuel Omotoso, said 23 members of the Assembly are behind the Speaker and Governor Fayose.

Omotoso said: “As you can see, we have 23 members of PDP out of 26 solidly behind the Speaker and our governor. We hereby pass votes of confidence in their leadership. We remain unshaken in our resolve to protect democracy.

“You can see that 18 of us are here, but the Deputy Speaker, Hon. Sina Animasaun and Hon. Dada Celilcia, are in Lagos on official assignments, while Hon Titi Owolabi has just lost her hubby; Hon. Ojo Ade Fajana is out of the country and Hon Tope Fasanmi  travelled  with the governor to Abuja, so we are united and strong.”

 Ekiti APC lawmakers deny involvement

However, the APC lawmakers have denied complicity in the alleged siege to the Ekiti State House of Assembly.

Minority Leader, Gboyega Aribisogan, said the allegation by the Speaker was untrue, baseless and unfounded as nobody laid siege to the Assembly complex.

Aribisogan said: “The allegations are untrue, baseless and unfounded and there was no reason for me to deploy Police to the Assembly complex in the first instance.

“We in the APC have not indicated any interest in coming to the office for now and I have said earlier that if and when we want to come, we will duly inform the Police.

“The allegation of writing a forged letter to the Police is false and for them to accuse me wrongly of forging a letter; I am considering a legal action against the Speaker because it was a wrong and false accusation which I want him to prove in court.

“They are afraid of their shadows, APC will not join PDP in their impunity and we will never resort to illegality. Ekiti people have voted APC to power and we will not use any illegality.

 Police keep mum

When contacted to react to the allegation, the Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. Caleb Ikechukwu could not be reached, as his phone set was switched off.