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The crisis
rocking the Ondo State House of Assembly deepened on Sunday as the
Peoples Democratic Party suspended the Assembly’s new Speaker, Samuel
Adesina, and his colleague, Pius Adebusuyi, for the role they played in
last Thursday’s impeachment of former Speaker, Taofik Abdulsalam.

Both men,
however, upturned political calculations in the state yesterday when
they defected to the Labour Party at separate events. Mr Adesina left
the PDP at Odigbo with his supporters while Mr Adebusuyi announced his
defection at Igbara Oke.

Two other members
of the PDP who spearheaded the impeachment against the former speaker,
Bakkita Bello and Igbekele Bolodeoku, were, however not affected by the
suspension and no disciplinary action was taken against them.

Mr. Bolodeoku moved the impeachment motion that ended the reign of Mr. Abdulsalam as the Speaker of the assembly.

The PDP, in a
statement issued at the weekend in Akure by its Publicity Secretary,
Adeyemi Adedipe, said, “The Peoples Democratic Party in Ondo State
received with shock the news of the illegal change in the leadership of
the Ondo State House of Assembly.

“It has however
been confirmed that the purported removal of the house functionaries
was initiated, contrived and executed by the Labour Party government.

“The PDP totally
disowns the purported change that seeks to impeach the Speaker and his
deputy. Our party views strongly the unwholesome participation in the
duo of Adebusuyi and Adesina as anti-party action which will not be
condoned in any manner whatsoever.”

The party also urged security agencies to probe the alleged forgery of signatures of PDP members used for the impeachment.

“The party
resolves to support all other members in the Ondo State House of
Assembly in their petitions before the security agencies in the quest
to investigate all those behind the criminal forgeries of signatures
that purportedly served the purpose of carrying out the unlawful
removal, which action is inimical to the peace and orderly conduct of
Ondo State,” the PDP said.

“We appeal to our
teeming supporters and the entire people of the state to remain calm as
our people will leave no stone unturned in ensuring that the rule of
law, accountability and transparency prevails as alchemy for good
governance in Ondo State.”

Fighting his removal

Mr Abdulsalam is
seeking assistance from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) at the state
and national level for his reinstatement. He vowed not to vacate the
seat, saying the impeachment exercise was not done in line with the
nation’s constitution as the 16 people who carried out his purported
impeachment did not meet the two-third requirements.

The party’s
leadership is also planning to meet with lawmakers in the lower and
upper chamber for succour, although it is unclear how this could help
as an earlier intervention in the removal of the Edo State speaker by
the National Assembly came to nought.

Security details attached to the impeached Speaker and his Deputy were also withdrawn over the weekend.

Mr. Abdusalam, who confirmed the withdrawal in a telephone interview, said he would not allow the illegality to stay.

“I will not allow
the purported act to stay because the impeachment was done by only
fifteen people, which is not the right thing,” he said.

The defection of the two PDP members and the likely defection of
Messrs Bello and Bolodeoku would increase the number of the Labour
Party legislators in the Assembly, giving the party a majority and push
the PDP into the minority.