7th January, 2011
Members of the Lagos State House of Assembly yesterday evening nullified the impeachment of the Chairman of Amuwo Odofin Local Government Area, Comrade Adewale  Ayodele, who was removed with the Leader of the council’s legislative arm, Kamorudeen Ogunbadejo.
The lawmakers said the members of the council’s legislative arm did not follow the due process in the removal of the council chairman.
They, however, said the situation called for a review of the impeachment procedure which they said had made it difficult for the removal of local government chairmen in the state.
The lawmakers, who refused to reinstate Hon. Ogunbadejo, who was accused by his colleagues of maladministration, abandonment of office, also set up an ad-hoc committee to investigate the allegations levelled by the council members against the chairman.
The members of the legislative arm of the council had written to the House to inform the members of their decision. They said in the letter that the last time they saw their leader was on 8 November, 2010 when they were supposed to have a plenary session which could not hold as a result of the absence of the clerk.
Since then, they did not see him again. This prompted his impeachment which they said took place after 40 days of his absence from duty.
For the chairman, the council legislators said he was removed for maladministration and misconduct.
They said the chairman left the office for 40 days after he sought only three days’ permission, thus bringing the administration of the council to a halt.
“He lavished N9 million to attend a seminar in London and another N4.2 million to attend another one in Denmark. He was absent from the state and the ward congress of the party.
“All the roads he claimed to have tarred are all bad and back to square one. He has now resorted to patching the roads with cement,†they said accusing him of awarding fake contracts.
They also said he bought 20 cars and kept 10 to himself to be used as incentive. He also gave some of the cars to his wife and cronies, according to the council legislators.
The council members accused him of being a cultist and said he asked one of them to join a cult group and the refusal of the legislator caused to chairman to be hostile to him.
Among other accusations, he was said to have sent thugs to beat up the legislators on December 29, 2010.
They immediately swore in the Vice Chairman of the council, Alhaja Qudrat Dad, as the new chairman.
Reacting to the allegations, Comrade Ayodele described them as spurious and unfounded.
The Amuwo Odofin Local Government Chairman said he was not given a list of the allegations neither was he allowed to defend himself.
He described the few councillors clamouring for his impeachment as charlatans who want to destabilise his administration because he refused to surrender the purse of the local government to them.
While reacting to the letter signed by the members of the legislative arm of the council, Hon. Adelabu Onibiyo of the state House of Assembly tasked his colleagues to critically look at the allegations and ensure that justice was done.
Majority Leader of the House, Hon. Kolawole Taiwo, told his colleagues that the impeachment did not follow due process, while Ajoke Adegeye, who represents the constituency at the House, accused the embattled chairman of maladministration, adding that he was using the influence of some politicians to treat those staff at the council with disdain.
The Speaker of the House while responding, said though the legislators did not follow due process, “if the chairman is found wanting in one-third of all the allegations levelled against him, he is in trouble.â€
— Kazeem Ugbodaga & Eromosele Ebhomele
