The embattled Speaker of Ondo State House of Assembly, Princess Jumoke Akindele has accused some members of the All Progressives Congress, APC, of being behind the ongoing crisis rocking the Assembly.
SUNSHINE HERALD recalled that the House has been engulfed in crisis after some aggrieved members on the 27th of January allegedly impeached Akindele and other principal offcers of the House of Assembly.
But in an interview with New Telegraph, Akindele who has the backing of the State Governor, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko said: "We have only five members of the APC in the House of Assembly and there are 21 members of PDP. The problem existing right now is that people want to be Speaker and Deputy Speaker at all cost.
"The reality on ground in Ondo State is that, in a little while, things would change and I have signified my intention to resign anytime I am asked to resign but what I'm doing there now is providing a measure of stability before the gladiators for the speakership to sort themselves out.
"At some point I was made to understand that APC members are desirous of also becoming the speaker and deputy. Some of us are induced into believing that they had the support of the APC and they are going about misbehaving, that's just the bottom line.
"I am not actually saying it's the numero uno of the APC in the state or the incoming governor, Rotimi Akeredolu, but I know many of the people who surrounded him are behind this and unfortunately we have a set of party members who are ambitious and this ambition thing is like a virus and it's worse than Ebola attack. It has eaten so much into them and they would do anything."
On what caused the crisis rocking the Assembly, she said; "Frankly speaking, I don't know why they are aggrieved. I was in Lagos on Friday, January 27, and I got a call around 5:30pm that some activities were happening at the state House of Assembly and I said so?
"I said this because we are all members and anybody could come to the House, so I didn't even know it was happening in the chambers and they said that the paymaster was caught with some money and that I allegedly instructed him to bring the money to me.
"That was weird, because at no time did I have any communication with the paymaster about the destination of any funds whatsoever.
"What happened was that, at some point within the week, I knew I was going to travel and usually if I am travelling like that I sign some schedules, I am not a signatory to any of the accounts, all I sign is schedule, and I left for a function in Lagos.
"I also recalled that I didn't even speak with the Clerk of the House before leaving, because ideally, the Clerk would have asked me what to do with the cheque.
"I am not the paymaster and the paymaster is supposed to be the lawful custodian of all funds and how he went to get the funds is not something I gave instructions on, except I sign the schedule and in many events these funds are meant for the House. So, I really don't understand what the problem is, even as I speak, I still don't understand."
