Kunle Oluomo | File Image
Ogun lawmakers impeach Oluomo over embezzlement of funds, highhandedness and related offences
By Valentine Amanze
Ogun State Governor Dapo Abiodun has lost a strong ally in the Ogun State House of Assembly as the lawmakers on Tuesday January 23, 2024, impeached the speaker, Kunle Oluomo, and elected Oludaisi Elemide to succeed him.
Eighteen of the 26-member State Assembly voted for Oluomo’s impeachment at the plenary session on Tuesday morning over allegation of embezzlement of funds, highhandedness and related offences.
Though the state governor is yet to make official statement on the issue, it was gathered that the Government House is not confortable with the development.
In his maiden speech after the impeachment, the new speaker, Elemide, called for calm among members. Channelstv reported that Elemide explained that the impeachment was not targeted at the governor of the state, Dapo Abiodun, as being speculated in some quarters.
Elemide, according to the report, pointed out that the impeachment was within the constitutional rights of the members to elect those to lead them in the House.
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Besides, the House adjourned plenary for two weeks, with the new speaker in possession of the maze, the symbol of authority of the House.
Recall that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had on September 6, 2022, arraigned Oluomo before a Federal High Court sitting in Lagos over an alleged N2.475 billion money laundering.
Oluomo was arraigned alongside three others – Oladapo Samuel, Adeyemo Taiwo, and Adeyanju Nimota Amoke (now at large) – on 11 counts of conspiracy, forgery, stealing, and money laundering preferred against them by the EFCC.
The EFCC’s prosecution counsel, Rotimi Oyedepo (SAN), had told the court that the defendants committed the alleged offences between 2019 and 2022.
He said that the incident took place in Ogun State.
Oyedepo told the court that they stole N2.475 billion from the treasury of the Ogun State House of Assembly.
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