WHY WE MOVED AGAINST BISI AKANDE IN 2000 - OUTGOING OSUN SPEAKER

Outgoing Speaker of Osun State, Alhaji Adejare Bello, yesterday, absolved former deputy-governor of the state, Senator Iyiola Omisore of being the sponsor of the impeachment move against his former boss, Chief Bisi Akande in 2000.

Bello, who spoke at a valedictory programme tagged, 'Testimonial Day', organised by his friends to mark his '12 Unbroken Legislative Years,' stated that Akande's prudence forced them to initiate impeachment move against him.

According to him, Akande's refusal to pay them what was approved by the Revenue Mobilisation and Fiscal Allocation Commission on the ground that it was more than what the permanent secretaries were taking home angered members of the House of Assembly. 'There was an impeachment move against Chief Bisi Akande between 2000 and 2001. Baba never offended any of us in the House of Assembly. It was because Baba was too prudent with the people's money and we wanted money in the House. That was the genesis.

'There was this morning, 23 out of 26 of us were present. Mojeed Alabi was there as the Speaker. In that month, there was this new directive issued by the Revenue Mobilisation and Fiscal Allocation Commission on the recognition of political office holders. Baba was giving us N90,000. 'But one day, Baba just gave us N60,000 each for a whole month. When we kicked, he asked: 'Are you going to be taking money than the permanent secretaries?' We told him that we contested an election and we won, so we were entitled to the N90,000. When we explained to him, he said 'no'. We rejected that money and decided that we would shake Baba through impeachment.

'We agreed among ourselves that the Speaker will not sign. We told the honourable member representing Ila, Baba's constituency, that he too should not sign. 24 of us signed the impeachment. 'It was said that it was then deputy-governor, Chief Iyiola Omisore that gave us money to impeach Baba. But nobody gave us any amount of money to impeach Chief Bisi Akande. It was because the House wanted an empowerment and Baba was not ready. Even when we started the move, if not for Chief Mojisoluwa Akinfenwa and others, Baba Akande only said 'let me pack my bag and go back to Ila',' Adejare stated.

He applauded Akande's performance while in office, saying the state secretariat built by Akande remained a model and the largest state secretariat in the country today. 'As far as Nigeria is concerned today, Osun State has the biggest secretariat. Baba was unable to complete the project as regard roads and electrification before he left but Oyinlola was able to do that. If Baba didn't do it what will Oyinlola electrify? So, Baba did very well. As to cost, Baba was able to do that edifice with less than N1 billion,' he added.

The outgoing Speaker urged newly elected members of the House not to take any disagreement between them and the executive arm to the pages of newspapers if they desired to enjoy their tenure in the House. While appreciating the statesmanship of the Speaker, Osun State Governor, Mr. Rauf Aregbesola, said the outgoing Speaker was capable of differentiating between state interest and party interest.

'I doubt if there is any personality in this country that has been able to manage a state legislative house for the period of time he has and with none of his members having an issue publicly or privately expressed against him,' the governor stated.

His predecessor, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, also lauded the outgoing Speaker for his unbridled loyalty to his party and his administration, describing him as 'a leader who is definitely on his way up.'