Impeached Speaker of the Ogun State House of Assembly, Olakunle Oluomo, on Monday, appeared before an eight-man ad-hoc committee headed by Musefiu Lamidi set up by the House to look into the allegations levelled against him by 18 of the 26 lawmakers.
After a closed-door engagement with the ad-hoc committee members led by Lamidi, the member representing Ado/Odo 2 Constituency, the impeached speaker faulted the composition of the committee, saying that five out of the eight-member committee are not eligible to be members.
He claimed that the House’s impeachment notice to him was insufficiently thorough and explanatory.
“They served me an invitation today after they have earlier given me notice of impeachment and I wrote back to them that the notice of impeachment is not detailed, what is highhandedness? What is lack of focus?
“The standing rule of the House said you should give me the details in writing, please I need more details, that was what I was expecting them to give me today,” Oluomo protested.
Complaining that the notice given to him was short, Oluomo said he appeared before the committee out of the respect he has for the House being a long-serving member.
He said he told the committee that answering questions concerning the impeachment notice is prejudiuce because the case is already in court.
He maintained that the House has not given him details of his offence or adequate time to respond as required by the 1999 Constitution.
Oluomo was impeached on January 23, 2024 for alleged embezzlement of funds, highhandedness and related offences.
The Assembly immediately elected a member, Oludaisi Elemide, as the new Speaker.
Oluomo immediately approached the state high court to challenge his removal as the speaker of the Assembly.
Oluomo is being prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over an alleged N2.475bn money laundering.