Former Ogun Deputy Speaker insists his suspension was politically motivated

Dare Kadiri, the former Deputy Speaker of the Ogun State House Assembly has insisted that his suspension from the State House of Assembly was engineered by the Speaker of the House, Olakunle Oluomo.

The lawmaker representing Ijebu North II State Constituency was suspended in September 2022, over an alleged breach of the rights and privileges of the State House of Assembly.

But in an interview with Pulse, Kadiri maintained that his suspension was politically motivated.

The suspended lawmaker alleged that the Speaker of the House, who was recently arrested by operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) masterminded his suspension because he was asking questions about the finances of the house.

“This is just a political vendetta. It’s very obvious. You know, I don’t see where you will just come back from EFCC detention, and in the next plenary session, you just go up there and suspend honorable members, two of us. The other guy, they said that he should come and apologise. They didn’t call me because they know I won’t. What should I apologize for? That he did not do what he did? They said they pardon him for what he did not do.

“But I hope this is going to be history and it’s going to be a lesson to other speakers or anybody in government who thinks they can just use power or humiliate people unnecessarily”, he said.

Explaining what led to his suspension, Kadiri said when he found out what was going wrong in the state assembly, he wrote a petition against the Speaker and the Clerk, accusing them of financial theft.

“At the end of the day, after about two years, when the EFCC completed their investigations, he (the speaker) was arrested at the airport, I went to the EFCC to write my own statement. I didn’t deny that I wrote a petition against him that he is stealing money. Somebody has to do it in this country”.

Kadiri, who is currently challenging his suspension in court said he has resolved to expose corruption in the assembly to clean up the system before he leaves the house.

“I promise myself to expose corruption and I’m going to do it. If it is the only thing I achieve in the house of assembly, to change the system; clean up the system before I leave the place, I think I will be satisfied with myself,” he said.

Describing the Speaker as a bully, Kadiri said Oluomo's leadership of the assembly has overseen theft, forgery, and destruction of the civil service.

"He has done so much that we will still be asking questions in the next three to four years. Go and check the posting of civil servants. He has destroyed the civil service there. I was told they went to chase a civil servant, a director out of the office with police in a democracy because you're the speaker. Nobody does that. That's the type of leadership he has provided in the last three years", Kadiri said.

Meanwhile, the next court hearing for the case on his suspension has been fixed for March 30, 2023.