Oyo Assembly Speaker Tears APC Apart *Uses police to chase member out of her residence *Youths stage walkout at the meeting From Debo Durowaiye, Oyo. The All Progressives Congress (APC) youths in Oyo-East Local Government area of Oyo State recently threw caution to the dogs and engaged Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Alhaja Monsurat Sunmonu, in a showdown over what they called her “unguarded utterances”. There had been complaints and reservations from leaders and members over the Speaker’s uncomplimentary approach to issues affecting the party. More worrisome, our correspondent gathered, is the way and manner the Speaker allegedly handles the party like her personal belonging, to the extent that she often threatens to wield the big stick on anyone, including council caretaker committee chairman, elders or leaders who refuses or fails to dance to her tunes, regardless of the attendant discomfort. The Speaker who is from the local government currently represents both Oyo-East and Oyo-West Local Governments as single state constituency in the House of Assembly. The last straw that broke the camel’s back happened at the Speaker’s residence located at Odo-Aro area in Oyo town, where she convened a reconciliation meeting of the youth leaders in the 10 wards in the area. Also at the meeting were caretaker committee chairmen for Oyo-East, Alhaji Mutahir Adekunle Adegboye, his Oyo- West counterpart, Soji Ojoawo, and some caretaker members. It was learnt that prior to the meeting, the ten wards’ youth leaders had at a meeting unanimously passed a vote of no confidence on the local government youth leader, Mr. Owonikoko, for alleged deceits and greed, which resulted in his suspension and subsequent appointment of his deputy to act in that capacity. Owonikoko is said to be one of the close aides of the Speaker. While all this lasted, Alhaja Sunmonu was said to be away abroad. At the meeting, the Speaker was said to have demanded explanations from the wards youth leaders on the rationale behind Owonikoko’s removal. Explanations by the wards youth leaders, according to confirmed sources, did not go down well with the Speaker who immediately flared up, lambasted them and challenged their audacity to remove the local government youth leader in her absence. She was also said to have threatened to deal with them as was done to their counterparts in the Oyo-West Local Government. The Speaker’s vituperations bewildered the ward youth leaders who retaliated by not only calling Alhaja Sunmonu to order over utterances but calling off her bluff as well. One of the youth leaders rose and told the Speaker point- blank that she had no authority over the party machinery and should learn to be submissive to party’s decision and respectful to leaders and elders. “These provocative comments annoyed the Speaker who ordered one of her security details, a policeman, to chase the ward youth leader out of her house. As he was being chased out, all other wards youth leaders rose up and walked out on the Speaker whose passionate appeals fell on deaf ears,” one of the sources said. All efforts made by the two councils’ caretaker chairmen to beg the aggrieved youth leaders to return were to no avail. The youth leaders proceeded from the Speaker’s residence to the venue of the local government party’s meeting at Durbar where they hurled stones, big sticks and broken bottles at everybody, including elders and leaders. Their impression, WESTERN POST was informed, is that the leaders had sold them out to the Speaker by compromising sincerity and decency for pot of porridge. There was pandemonium as everyone scampered for safety following the attacks by the rampaging youth leaders. There was no casualty. But the situation was, however, brought under control by some leaders respected by the youth leaders who assured them they would call the Speaker to order.
Posted on: Fri, 12 Sep 2014 11:27:34 +0000
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