Adeleke’s largesse tears Osun Assembly apart

The Osun State House of Assembly has been hit by a crisis over Christmas gifts from the state governor, Ademola Adeleke.

PREMIUM TIMES gathered that Mr. Adeleke gave the lawmaker the sum of N40 million as a Christmas present.

The money is paid to the leader of the assembly and is expected to be divided among the members.

A source in the assembly who asked not to be named for fear of victimization, told journalists that each lawmaker collected N250,000.

The assembly is dominated by the All Progressives Congress (APC) with 23 members, while the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has three members.

But the cash gift caused a crisis among the assembly members as the money allotted to them was too little.

One of the aggrieved MPs, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told reporters that some of them had held a meeting on Thursday to discuss the issue.

The lawmaker said his colleagues were disappointed that the speaker of the house, Timothy Owoeye “deceived” them.

He said some lawmakers have started plotting the impeachment of the Speaker.

The lawmaker also confirmed that he collected his share of N250,000 from the governor’s Christmas gift.

“We are just disappointed because the Speaker lied to us. Many of us have not known the amount until now. I also heard that someone is planning to impeach the Speaker,” he said.

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However, the Speaker’s spokesperson, Kunle Alabi, denied that the lawmakers were arguing over any gift from Mr. Adeleke.

Mr. Alabi said the claim was “faceless and baseless.”

“There is nothing like that. Perhaps it is a fantasy of the creator. The allegations in the first place do not deserve to be responded to because they are faceless because the group or whoever brought this allegation is faceless,” he said.

“If someone is planning to blame someone, someone will speak on their behalf so that there is no face, no basis, it is in the imagination of the person who sells it, there is nothing like that,” he said.

“That’s why I said this is faceless, I can’t put it to anyone, you can’t put it to anyone, so it’s in the realm of rumors. It’s speculation. The house remains one, it can’t be divided,” he said.

“There is nothing like that, the governor is not Father Christmas, how can he give money to the House of Assembly, whatever the assembly gets is legal, how can the governor spend the money of the assembly, money for what, any house. The assembly gets it legally. How can the governor reach into his pocket and give money to the speaker?

“In the last four years, whatever the house accepted is legal according to Owoeye leadership, whatever the house and the members accepted, in the last four years is legal.”