It is unconstitutional to be involved in Ekiti assembly crisis – Oyebanji

Ekiti State Governor Biodun Oyebanji said he refused to be involved in the crisis which rocked the state House of Assembly from the beginning.

Oyebanji who was speaking in his office when he received the leadership of the Assembly, led by the Speaker, Bunmi Adelugba on Tuesday, said he didn’t get involved in the crisis because it was unconstitutional to do so.

He appreciated the leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state for resolving the crisis.

Oyebanji said: “My comment begins with an appreciation to the party leadership for resolving this family disagreement, it’s not a crisis; democracy comes with strains and stresses. There are contestations and disagreements but the beauty of democracy is that there are in-built mechanisms to resolve it.

“And that is what has played out. The APC is one. I’m a loyal member of this party; the APC gave me the platform to stand on, without the APC, I will not be here today.

“I refused from day one to be drawn into it simply because I swore an oath to defend the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The constitution is clear of the powers and functions of all the arms of government. I am leading the executive arm of government, they don’t interfere in what I do and it will be wrong and a violation of the constitution for me to interfere in what is going on in the House of Assembly.

” What I have done as your governor is to ensure that I protect lives and property and that is within my power as the governor of this state. I have not interfered but I’m happy with the outcome. As progressives, we have a culture and the culture is respect for leadership.

“And madam Speaker, our budget is before the House of Assembly and we are working so hard to ensure that we deliver on our promises to Ekiti people but we cannot violate extant rules and regulations. I am appealing for a speedy passage of the budget.

”There are lots of things we ought to have brought before the honourable House but we are waiting for the passage of the budget.

“While congratulating the new Speaker, I will just plead with the party chair to bring in everybody and for the first time, I will have to quickly respond to all the insinuations on the social media on what has happened in the House of Assembly. It’s a family affair and as a family we would resolve it.”

The assembly had on Monday, sacked Gboyega Aribisogan who was elected speaker last Wednesday, replacing him with Adelugba.