Ekiti Lawmakers Allege $1m Offer to Impeach Gov Fayose

Ekiti Lawmakers Allege  $1m Offer to Impeach Gov Fayose

Ekiti State has been rocked by crisis over arrests of some lawmakers and top government functionaries, and yesterday, it

assumed a new twist as members of the state House  of Assembly have alleged that they were  offered  a staggering  sum of $1 million to impeach  the state Governor, Ayodele Fayose.

The lawmakers who vowed not to allow themselves to be co-opted

into any  ‘devilish’ plot to truncate the government of Fayose, added that they were prepared to spend the rest of their tenure in DSS cell, instead of joining some “evil doers in this sinister intention.”

At a press conference yesterday, Chairman, Assembly Committee on

Information, Hon. Gboyega Aribisogan , disclosed that  eight lawmakers had been visited by some men who claimed to be officials of the DSS and made financial inducement if they key into the agenda  .

Lending credence to Aribisogan’s allegation and buttressing the fact that the DSS operatives were deeply involved in the impeachment plot, the Speaker, Hon Kola Oluwawole, said if Economic and Financial

Crimes Commission (EFCC) could be used in 2006, any government agency could be deployed to hatch the new plan against the governor.

"Our members were told that their names were among those to be arrested and they must 'cooperate' if they do not want their bank accounts frozen and be kept in DSS detention indefinitely," he said.

The lawmakers said the 2006 experience, in which assembly members in the state were hounded into EFCC detention and made to sign impeachment of Fayose on the table of the EFCC chairman will

never be repeated in the state.

"The last Friday invasion of the state House of Assembly by armed men of the DSS in which four of our members were abducted, has been established to be a prelude to the clandestine plot to coerce members of the assembly to impeach the governor.

"As at today, even Hon Afolabi Akanni who we confirmed was

with the DSS in Abuja is being held incommunicado. No one has been

given access to him, not even his lawyers and doctors. We do not have any information as to the whereabouts of the three other lawmakers.

  

"We are aware of the plot to arrest no fewer than 18 of our members

with a view to forcing them to sign impeachment notice against

Fayose," he said.