The member
representing Ikole Constituency 1 in the Ekiti State House of Assembly, Gboyega
Aribisogan, recently defected to the All Progressives Congress and was on
Tuesday suspended, indefinitely, at a plenary session. He tells KAMARUDEEN
OGUNDELE why the suspension cannot stand
You
were once again suspended by the state assembly, indefinitely while still
serving 180 legislative days suspension Did you see it coming?
Yes, I saw
it coming. I had announced it on social media. Their decision to remove Friday
from legislative days was all part of plot to elongate my resumption date. I
said it when I went to the assembly on June 8 that Governor Ayodele Fayose and
the Speaker, Kola Oluwawole, were planning to make my suspension permanent and
thereby deny my constituency representation in the assembly. I was thinking we
had a leader (governor) who would wade into the matter but I later found out
that he was the planner, mastermind and executioner of the entire episode.
Their plot to suspend me and deny my constituency of representation has come to
pass. I pre-empted them, now, it has come to pass. The adhoc committee set up
to investigate the allegations against me invited me to the Government House
and not the assembly. That shows that the governor is in charge of everything.
I knew of the plot to deny Ikole Constituency 1 of representation because the
governor does not like my face any longer. So, it was not a surprise to me.
You
were once a henchman of the governor to the extent that he imposed your
candidature against the will of the then state PDP chairman. Why do you think
the governor would turn around to fight you?
The governor
is fighting me not because I disobeyed his order but because he felt I was
becoming too independent. He was also fed with many lies that I had been
complaining about his style of governance and the way the assembly is being
run. That was what led to the frosty relationship between me and him. Before
the Buruji Kashamu matter came in, he had once invited me where I urged him to
discountenance whatever lies he was being told. The issue is not between me and
the assembly but between me and the governor. It is true I was one of his
ardent supporters, but when you have a leader listening to misleading
information from people that are not well educated, you will want to ask if it
was borne out of inferiority complex. The problem I have with him is that I
have always insisted we do things the right way while he has tendencies to
dominate in everything which is different from my upbringing. It is very
glaring that I never visited Kashamu. The early news was that I went with some
members to Kashamu only for the story to change that I was the one hobnobbing
with the enemies of the state.
I want to
correct an impression that I was imposed. He (Fayose) didn’t pay for my
nomination form and didn’t sponsor my campaign. I went into primaries and
scored the second highest votes in the election. I had been a party supporter
and had been a party financier in Ikole Local Government before that time;
nobody can deny that. The rumour that he imposed me as a candidate is a facade.
The relationship broke down when he started listening to members who have no
job than to be spreading lies against others.
Your
voice and that of Buruji were allegedly captured in the audio recording…
It is all
lies, there is nothing in that audio tape. They said I was introducing the
Deputy Speaker (Segun Adewunmi). If it is true that I was introducing the
deputy speaker and he is now being coerced to say that I confessed to him, why
exonerating the deputy speaker if he was actually at that meeting with Kashamu?
If actually they wanted to investigate the matter, they wouldn’t have relied on
30 seconds audio record. Senator Kashamu is a known figure, he (governor)
should have given him (Kashamu) a call. Up till now, the governor has not
called him to find out if he actually met with members of the assembly. Even at
a reconciliatory meeting with Aare Afe Babalola, the governor only claimed that
Kashamu called him to tell him that some members of the assembly were with him.
The governor that I know would not have waited for 24 hours before calling
people. If they are sure of what they have, let them play it to the whole
world.
But
the deputy speaker was said to have apologised while you refused…
They never
invited me before they set up the ad hoc committee. That committee sat for only
15 minutes. The issue is premeditated. The deputy speaker at the meeting with
Chief Afe Babalola denied saying that I confessed to him. Let us know that this
shenanigan took place so that the governor could railroad me into submission.
For six months, he never asked me. I was suspended on October 7, I only saw him
on April 9 this year at Chief Afe Babalola’s residence. He never allowed any of
my leaders to see him for the period. This is a clear case of set up by the
governor, the Chairman House Committee on Information, Samuel Omotoso and some
members of the assembly working with the governor.
You
said the governor moved against you because he felt you were becoming
independent. Can you tell us some of the issues that caused disagreement
between you?
It was the
Chief of Staff, Chief Dipo Anisulowo, that first called me and said the
governor was not happy with me, that I was complaining and urging members to
press for furniture allowance and car loans. That I was also complaining that
the money I was getting for the publication of my newspaper was too small. I
asked him for evidence. The governor also asked me if he sent me to the
assembly to be complaining and instigating others. I said nothing like that
happened. I said it was another member who raised the issue and I advised we
meet the governor instead of raising it at the parliament. The governor then
told me he would expect me to say only things he wanted me to say. I said, sir,
parliament is meant for us to discuss issues affecting the state and the
parliament. I am not anybody’s stooge. At that point, he began to suspect that
I was becoming someone who wanted to challenge some of his actions. Three weeks
after, the issue of me going to Buruji came up.
You
have moved to the APC, do you see this saving your political career?
Obviously,
the governor had decided to set up another committee made up of his nominees to
try me again while I was still on suspension so as to recommend my expulsion
from the Peoples Democratic Party. Being a politician, I decided to move to
another political party to save the mandate from being rubbished and to save my
political career. The governor is doing this with a lot of impunity.
There
are insinuations that you are being sponsored by powerful forces in the APC,
especially former governor Kayode Fayemi, to destabilise the government. Who
are your backers?
Can one man
destabilise a 26-member assembly? These are jejune stories that have no place
in the current crisis. What they don’t understand about my moving to APC is
that they underrated my capacity to work within the political class. The
governor thought I was one of those boys who were his trumpeters and mouth
organists who do not know their right from left. He had forgotten that I had
worked in establishments and I’m not one of those boys he can play prank with.
Many governors in this country are my friends, he never knew that. If he is
afraid of former governor Kayode Fayemi, he should tell the whole world. After
all, when we wanted to probe the administration of Fayemi, he said no, that he
was his friend. It is surprising for some of us to hear that he is now probing
the same government in the twilight of his administration. If he has issues to
grind with me, let him come out and say it publicly. When people said he could
not become the governor again, I stood my ground and worked for him. I’m one
person that is always committed to any cause that I believe in. I’m saying now
that with the way we have parted, I cannot work with him. If he so wish, let
him continue to think he can remove me from that assembly, he cannot do that by
fiat. I understand that he is raising about N200m to give to the Independent
National Electoral Commission for my recall, let him continue. He would meet a
different person in me by the time the assembly resumes from recess because I
won’t allow him to take away that mandate freely given to me by 8,570 people in
Ikole constituency 1. We know each other, I know his antics. This matter will
not go away until the end of his tenure.
You
are the only APC member now in the assembly. Are you expecting more members to
join you?
Obviously,
there would be more. I don’t want to mention names but I know more than half of
the members are suffering and they have seen that they too can voice out. In
the coming days, you will see what will happen. If he thinks he has 25 members,
he is deceiving himself. We do talk. People he would never expect are speaking
with me and are urging me on to liberate them; so more people are coming into
APC because they do not like his style of governance. Can you imagine an entire
assembly that is not paid six months salaries; that has budget for training and
has not gone for training. An assembly that cannot point to one single thing
they have done in their constituencies; where they can no longer express
themselves except the governor asks them to do so; where they are being
monitored. He would soon realise he has made a fatal error by gagging the
assembly members from performing their duties.
The
Speaker is not complaining that the governor has usurped his power. When did
you become his big brother?
He may not understand
the embarrassment he has brought to the Ekiti people on December 3 during the
budget presentation by the governor when he agreed he was only acting as
speaker on behalf of the governor, who was a visitor. That is unconstitutional!
That is why we are pointing that out. That it is an aberration for the visitor
(governor) to say he is the landlord (speaker). We elected the speaker, he
didn’t put himself there.
The
assembly claimed it was not aware of your defection to the APC.
They are
ignorant of the standing rule they are holding. My renunciation of the PDP was
communicated in a letter to the Speaker. It was delivered by my Personal
Assistant and duly received and acknowledged by the Clerk of the assembly on
June 27. The speaker took the letter to the governor who asked them to
discountenance the letter. They know that I can defect because of the factions
in the party. That was why they planned indefinite suspension for me.
Are
you going to court?
When they
resume from recess, I will go to the assembly. It is only when they prevent me
that I can consider other options. The last time I went there, they did not
resist me from coming there and I hope they will not do that anytime I come
there. It is not yet time to seek legal redress. I know their plots and I have
written relevant security agencies.
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