No Retreat, No Surrender: Ondo Assembly’s 21 Lawmakers Dig In as Oladiji Resists Impeachment Over N44m OSOPADEC Fund

AKURE

A leadership storm that has kept the Ondo State House of Assembly away from plenary for weeks has hardened into an open standoff, with 21 of the chamber’s 26 lawmakers insisting that Speaker Olamide Oladiji must go before business resumes.

Oladiji, Speaker of the Assembly since June 2023, is at the centre of allegations that he sidelined colleagues in the disbursement of N44 million released by the Ondo State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission (OSOPADEC) for the reordering of the commission’s 2026 budget.

He has not been charged with any offence, and has publicly denied any wrongdoing.

How the crisis built up

Findings by ValidViewNetwork trace the trouble to earlier this year, when OSOPADEC released the disputed sum to the legislature.

Lawmakers accused the Speaker of failing to carry them along in sharing the money, a grievance that curdled into a signed impeachment notice.

By late July, sources within the Assembly said 21 of the 26 members had appended their signatures.

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Olatunji Ifabiyi, the Assembly’s spokesperson, has been the public face of the anti-Oladiji bloc.

Speaking to reporters in Akure, he insisted the lawmakers had “resolved not to hold plenary until a new speaker is elected”, a position checks by ValidViewNetwork confirm has not shifted since it was first announced.

The governor drawn in

What began as an internal legislative quarrel has since spilled into the executive arm.

The 21 lawmakers have accused Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa of shielding Oladiji and frustrating efforts to remove him, daring the governor to explain his interest in the matter if it is, as he claims, purely an internal Assembly affair.

Aiyedatiwa’s camp denies any hand in the impeachment fight.

Oladiji’s allies have pushed back hard. In a statement described by the Speaker’s office as unequivocal, they dismissed the entire episode as “a complete fabrication,” denying that any resignation was ever contemplated and rejecting claims that members were sidelined in the fund’s disbursement.

Where it stands

The ultimatums have come and gone without resolution. ValidViewNetwork gathered that a peace meeting convened by the state executive, bringing aggrieved lawmakers and Assembly leaders to one table, failed to break the deadlock.

With plenary suspended indefinitely and no impeachment yet carried out despite the signed notice, the Assembly remains in limbo, a stalemate observers say raises pointed questions about legislative accountability and whether Nigeria’s state houses can police their own leadership without executive interference.