The arrest of the Speaker of the Ogun State House of Assembly, Olakunle Oluomo, on Thursday, forced the legislature to suspend plenary indefinitely.
Oluomo was to preside over Thursday’s sitting before his arrest by operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
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He was reportedly arrested by men of the anti-graft agency on Thursday morning at the Murtala Muhammad Airport, Lagos, over allegations of corruption.
Sources told our correspondent that immediately the news of his arrest filtered in, the lawmakers suspended sitting.
“Oluomo rarely allows his Deputy, Akeem Balogun, to preside over the plenary in his absence,” multiple sources in the assembly told Daily Trust, justifying the suspension of the plenary.
The Chairman House Committee on Information, Yussuf Adejojo, confirmed the suspension of the plenary.
“Yes, the House was supposed to sit today but due to one reason or the other, our sitting has been postponed until further notice.”
Asked if the suspension was was due to Oluomo’s arrest, he responded “Well, it might be, but the information about the postponement has been out before the arrest of the Speaker, but it might be because as the Speaker, he is the one that will preside over the sitting, so the postponement might be because of this.”
Oluomo’s arrest was in connection with the EFCC’s investigation of financial fraud in the assembly.
The anti graft agency had in June 2021 begun investigation of the assembly for alleged financial misappropriation.
The EFCC acting on a petition written against Oluomo, had written a letter to the Assembly, demanding information on all budget appropriations and allocations of the House from May 30, 2015 till date.
Daily Trust gathered that the petition may have emanated from the impeached Deputy Speaker, Dare Kadiri, who had accused Oluomo of shrouding the House financial records in secrecy.
The embattled former Deputy Speaker also accused Oluomo of forging his signature to withdraw up to N50million from the Assembly’s bank account.
Kadiri, who has been at loggerheads with the Speaker, was impeached as the Deputy Speaker over alleged gross misconduct in March 2021.
But in January, the assembly fought back by dragging the EFCC and Kadiri to court for allegedly battering the image of the House.
The Assembly accused Kadiri of leaking confidential information given to the EFCC to the media, using an alleged official of the agency.
In a suit marked FHC/AB/CS/7/2022 and dated, Friday, January 14, the legislature also accused the EFCC of “bias and conspiracy to impugn the House.”
