Oyo House Of Assembly Moves To Impeach Deputy Governor, List Five Major Offences Against Him

The Oyo State House of Assembly has initiated steps to impeach the State Deputy Governor, Rauf Olaniyan.

This follows the petition against him brought to the attention of the House by some members of the assembly during plenary on Wednesday.

Naija News reports some of the offences listed against Olaniyan by the lawmakers include gross misconduct, abuse of office, financial recklessness, abandonment of office, official duty and insubordination.

Twenty-four out of the thirty-two members in the State Assembly signed the petition for impeachment against the Deputy Governor.

According to them, if the Deputy Governor fails to respond to the allegations against him, then impeachment proceedings will be initiated.

The petition titled “Petition and notice of an allegation of the Deputy Governor of Oyo State, His Excellency, Engineer Rauf Olaniyan”, was read by the Clerk of the House, Yetunde Awe during the plenary presided over by the Speaker, Adebo Ogundoyin.

“Consequent upon listed below, we the under listed elected Honourable members of the 9th assembly hereby allege the Deputy Governor of Oyo State, His Excellency Eng. Rauf Olaniyan with the following allegations:

“Gross misconduct, abuse of office, financial recklessness, abandonment of office, official duty ani Insubordination and other offences.

“This is in accordance to the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended in 2011. Section 188,” the petition reads in part.

The lawmakers, who signed the petition, included: Fadeyi Muhammed (Ona Ara), Onaolapo Sanjo (Ogbomosho South), Babalola Olasunkanmi (Egbeda), Adebisi Yussuf (Ibadan South-West I), Okedoyin Julius (Saki West) and Adebayo Babajide (Ibadan North II).

Others were: Kehinde Olatunde (Akinyele II), Olajide Akintunde (Lagelu), Mustapha Akeem (Kajola), Popoola Ademola (Ibadan South-East II), Owolabi Olusola (Ibadan North-East II), Olagoke Olamide (Ibadan North-East I), Olayanji Kazeem (Irepo/Olorunsogo) and Ojedokun Peter (Ibarapa North).

The remaining lawmakers were: Gbadamosi Saminu (Saki East/Atisbo), Mabaje Adekunle (Iddo), Oluwafowokanmi Oluwafemi (Ibadan South-West II), Akeem Adedibu (Iwajowa), Fatokun Ayo (Akinyele I), Rasak Ademola (Ibadan South-East I), Obadara Akeem (Ibadan North-West), Oyekunle Fola (Ibadan North I) and Adetunji Francis (Oluyole).

The Deputy Governor has seven days to respond to the allegations against him according to the House Speaker who noted that the petition met the two-thirds majority requirement needed to initiate such a step.

“The window of response takes immediate effect and lapses on Wednesday, June 22,” Ogundoyin said.

Mr. Olaniyan recently defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC) in what is believed to be a part of the cold war between him and Governor Seyi Makinde who has since picked another person as his running mate to seek re-election in 2023.