A member of the Ondo State House of Assembly has alleged that the parliament held no more than four plenary sessions between January and July 2026 under the leadership of the Speaker, Olamide Oladiji.
The lawmaker, who spoke with Punch on condition of anonymity on Tuesday, accused the Speaker of preventing regular legislative sittings and relying instead on caucus and parliamentary meetings.
The allegation came amid an escalating leadership crisis in the Assembly, where 21 of the 26 lawmakers reportedly signed a notice seeking Oladiji’s removal over alleged financial misconduct.
The Speaker was accused of diverting ₦44 million meant for the reordering of the budget of the Ondo State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission.
The aggrieved lawmakers reportedly gave him until Sunday to resign or face impeachment when the House reconvenes.
The anonymous lawmaker said the Assembly was expected to sit three times weekly but had failed to maintain the schedule for several months.
“We don’t hold plenary sessions regularly again. We are supposed to be holding plenary sessions at least three times a week, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. But now, since January, we have not held plenary meetings more than five times,” he said.
He maintained that the House had held only four plenary sessions despite not being on recess.
“We have had only four plenary sittings since January, and we are not on recess. He, the Speaker, doesn’t allow the plenary meeting to be held. This issue has been going on for more than three or four months,” the lawmaker added.
He described the situation as unconstitutional, claiming that some lawmakers had remained silent out of fear of sanctions.
“As a matter of fact, some of us don’t like it like that because it is against the constitution, but everybody is keeping quiet so as not to be sanctioned. We are tired of the leadership, so he should go,” he said.
Lawmakers Withdraw Confidence
The Chairman of the House Committee on Information, Olatunji Fabiyi, confirmed that the lawmakers had been holding parliamentary meetings, although not regular plenary sessions.
“You know the system of sitting of the House. We can do parliamentary meetings; it’s part of the meetings,” Fabiyi said.
He disclosed that members recently met the House leadership and informed the Speaker that he had lost their confidence.
“About four days ago, we met the leadership of the House. We called Mr Speaker himself to that meeting, and we told him categorically that he is not enjoying the confidence of members again,” he stated.
Fabiyi said the lawmakers advised Oladiji to resign voluntarily to protect his political career.
“We told him to go and resign voluntarily, so that it won’t have any negative impact on his political future. And it’s the collective wish of the people that attended that meeting,” he added.
Speaker Denies Allegations
Oladiji, however, dismissed the allegations as baseless and mischievous, insisting that the Assembly had continued to hold statutory meetings.
“Let them provide the evidence. Our parliamentary meeting is regarded as a statutory meeting, as regards a regular meeting,” the Speaker said.
He argued that parliamentary sittings were as important as plenary sessions and challenged his accusers to substantiate their claims.
“At times, we might not have plenary sitting, but we have parliamentary sitting.
“Parliamentary sitting is as important as plenary sitting. All the allegations they are claiming, let them provide evidence as regards that,” he said.
Oladiji also explained that the volume of legislative work often depended on bills transmitted by the executive arm of government.
“The way we work is that the executive, in most cases, are the ones that have so many bills. Maybe the bill they want to amend or a new law.
“What I mean is that the executive works with the House of Assembly. They are the ones that usually sponsor so many bills.
“Most of the bills we process in the House of Assembly usually come from the executive. Either they want to amend an existing law, or maybe they want to process a bill into law,” he added.
