ALL Progressives Congress (APC) lawmakers in the Ekiti State House of Assembly have dismissed moves made by Governor Ayo Fayose to reach an accommodation with them as sheer politics designed to stave off his impeachment. 

Since assuming office in November last year, Governor Fayose has been at loggerheads with the assembly, refusing to recognise its leaders and declaring war on the 19 APC members. However, following the election of General Muhammadu Buhari as Nigeria's president on March 28, the 19 APC legislators in the house decided to commence impeachment proceedings against the governor. 

They have already served the governor and his deputy Kolapo Olusola with impeachment notices for various offences. These include invasion of the house with thugs and miscreants, instigating an unconstitutional takeover of the house by seven legislators in contravention of Section 96(2) of the constitution, the prevention of the 19 APC members from performing legislative duties with the use of security agents and armed thugs and sponsoring an unlawful impeachment process. 

Over the last week, face with the reality of imminent impeachment, Governor Fayose has decided to negotiate with the APC parliamentarians. He said he was ready to sit with the lawmakers and negotiate as long as they were ready to embrace the move in the overall interest of the state. 

However, the APC parliamentarians have dismissed his overture saying that the governor was not sincere. To buttress their point, yesterday, Governor Fayose appeared in a state-wide broadcast urging the Ekiti people to rise against the lawmakers who he alleged were planning to resume their legislative duties today. 

Adewale Omirin, the speaker of the Ekiti State House of Assembly, said:  “How do you reconcile this inciting broadcast with a plea he made for peace not quite 24 hours earlier, which Ekiti people and indeed Nigerians thought was a good move by the governor to thaw the frozen relationship between him and the lawmakers? This is confirmation that the governor can’t be trusted in any peace move.” 

Also, the lawmakers expressed regret over failure of the governor to embrace the homily by the clergyman in his thanksgiving service where he was admonished to embrace peace with them. At the service, the governor was asked to pay their entitlements and seek genuine reconciliation to move the state forward. 

“It is shocking that the governor, who refused to make any remark or commitment during the church service after the man of God appealed to him to embrace peace, could go on air few minutes after the church service to start inciting workers, traders, Okada riders and artisans to defend him with their last drop of blood. 

“As if his inciting live broadcast was not enough, Ekiti people were shocked when a public service announcement started running intermittently on the state media urging Okada riders to look out for strange faces across the state and attack them because they are thugs that are being imported by APC lawmakers. They were also asked to converge on the House of Assembly as early as 6am on Monday to prevent the lawmakers from performing their legal duties,” Mr Omirin added.