ABEOKUTA – THE Ogun State House of Assembly, State Secretariat at Oke-Imosan including the Governor’s Office were, yesterday, sealed up by armed policemen said to be acting on the instructions of the Inspector General of Police, Mr. Ogbonna Onovo, following the political crisis in the State.

The Presidency was also said to have summoned Governor Olugbenga Daniel and the 26 lawmakers on both sides of the divide to Abuja for a meeting today.

The summons fuelled speculations that the Federal Government might take far reaching measures to put an end to the crisis.

Both factions in the House were denied entry while the Group of 15 lawmakers led by the Speaker, Mr. Tunji Egbetokun, who had announced their intention to sit had to return to Lagos for what one of them said was in the interest of peace.

Workers were prevented from gaining entry into the Secretariat Complex while those who had resumed work very early in the day were asked to leave at about 10.00 am.

As early as 7.30 a.m, heavily armed policemen had locked up the two gates leading into the Secretariat. They sent the workers back from the gates saying they had instructions not to allow anybody into the premises.

Newsmen who were initially allowed into the House of Assembly complex found out at the main gate that the place had been sealed up while only armed policemen were seen at the gate.

Vanguard learnt that policemen at the gate of the House of Assembly were in fact deployed from Zone 2 in Onikan, Lagos and they were said to have arrived Monday night to seal up the complex. Men of the State Police Command were said to have locked out workers in the other complex around the House “for security reasons.”

Fourteen members of the Group of 15 lawmakers except, Mr. Olawale Alausa, said to be on holidays abroad, arrived in Abeokuta at 9.00 a.m, in a convoy of six vehicles led by Speaker Egbetokun. They had to return following what was said to be an advice from the State Security Service based on instructions “from above.”

Egbetokun who had assured members of the House on a phone-in radio programme that the House would sit was said to have asked the lawmakers to return to their homes “in demonstration of maturity, obedience to rule of law and deference to authority at the Federal level.”

However, Speaker of the Group of 11 lawmakers; Mr. Emmanuel Soyemi Coker, after featuring on a programme on the State owned Gateway Television visited the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Secretariat where he insisted that his elevation to the post of Speaker was legal.

Coker who was received by the party secretary, Chief Pegba Otemolu, before going into a meeting with party chairmen from the 20 Local Government Areas of the state said: “What we did was absolutely legal and it was even belated because we ought to have taken action a long time ago.”

Leading six others to the Secretariat, Coker said his leadership would work harmoniously with the Executive adding that the process which brought him to power was based on Order 15 of the House Rules that allowed them to have nine members to form a quorum.

Suspension of members

He said: “We invited them and they did not come and in the interest of the people of the State we had to act and decide on issues. We decided to lift the suspension of two of our members and they joined us to make us 11 and then we went on to do all those other things that had to be done.

“We are back at work and what is paramount is the progress of this state and we will do everything to allow development and get the state to move forward.”

Receiving Coker, the Secretary of the party; Chief Otemolu said: “This party is solidly behind you and the reception you have here confirms your acceptability as the new Speaker. We are happy and you have our backing.

“You took the right step at the right time. Some people do not know how authentic your actions are; but we will ensure that they know and ensure your progress. The party is solid behind you.”

Chairman of Ijebu North East LGA, who is also Chairman of the Committee of Chairmen; Chief Wole Otenaike said: “The good people of Ogun State and the teeming population of our party members in the nooks and crannies of the State are happy and support and salute the courage of the God chosen Speaker, Soyemi Coker and his principal officers for rescuing Ogun State from the strangulation and trauma which the G15 and their collaborators have subjected the people of the state for the past three years.”

ACN describes impeachment as fraudulent

Meanwhile Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, governorship aspirant, Chief Gbenga Obadara, said:“It remains unimaginable in Nigeria and Ogun State political history where nine members of the House will expel 15 members where the norm in democratic dispensation remains the rule of majority.

“It will beat the imagination of an average Ogun indigene where a House will sit at dawn, operate with a local government mace and approve the people’s rejected N100 billion and N26billion Supplementary Budget within twenty minutes of sitting for the Gbenga Daniel led administration that has less than eight months to leave office to squander. Again, this will not stand at law and no Nigerian will put their money in such a fraudulent bond.”