The confrontation between Governor Ayodele Fayose and the Ekiti state House of Assembly took a new dimension on Wednesday when the Governor ordered the sealing off of a fuel station belonging to the Speaker,Hon. Adewale Omirin.
Citing the need to avert “unimaginable fire accident with attendant fatalities.” as cause, the government closed down five filling station among which is the speakers’ T. Five Integrated services.
The Ekiti Assembly had refused to sit after Fayose was inaugurated and the new governor had accused the speaker of attempting to impeach him. The House resumed plenary on wednesday, the same day the Speaker’s Fuel station was sealed off.
The government, in a statement by the Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Idowu Adelusi, directed all the owners of the affected filling stations to report at the Ministry of Housing, Physical Planning and Urban Development with letters of approval.
The speaker while reacting said that the Governor is trying to intimidate him vowing not to “buckle under undue political pressure to abandon his party for the PDP for selfish and pecuniary motives.”
He said that the governor only closed down his station because he belongs to the opposition APC noting that another assembly member, Joseph Olugbemi, an APC legislator who defected to the PDP told him that the governor had made up his mind to close the filling station over his refusal to join the PDP.
Olugbemi is one of the six APC members that defected to the PDP on the day Fayose was inaugurated as the new governor of the state.
Omirin recalled that he had earlier promised the governor that the assembly would work with him in the interest of Ekiti people, to deliver dividends of democracy.
He said, “I called the governor to confirm what the honourable member told me about the plan to close my filling station. The governor denied any such plan, swearing that he would not pursue any victimisation agenda against his opponents.
“But only yesterday(Wednesday), the governor ordered the closure of the filling station, citing environmental factor.”
However, the government have insisted that the station was closed down strictly for environmental reasons
“They were sited within residential areas. They are not supposed to be within the residential areas.
“They are not the only filling stations in the state capital. If they didn’t comply with the environmental laws, the law should take its course. It has no political undertone.
“Four filling stations were sealed off but it is an ongoing thing. The exercise will take place throughout the state. It is to sanitise the state and prevent fire (outbreak.)” Adewusi said
