Former Ekiti Speaker Gboyega Aribsogan has vowed not to withdraw the case challenging what he described as illegal impeachment.

Aribisogan said he was in court to seek justice against the alleged tyranny of a few individuals desperate to hold the State to ransom and save the Assembly from ignominy.

The Assembly has been embroiled in a crisis over Aribisogan’s impeachment by some lawmakers on November 21 and the consequent election of Olubunmi Adelugba as speaker.

Apart from impeachment, the Adelugba-led Assembly suspended Aribisogan and seven members loyal to him for the role they played in his emergence.

The Ekiti State Council of Traditional Rulers on Monday intervened in the impeachment crisis rocking the Assembly with a view to finding a peaceful resolution.

The traditional council led by its chairman, Oba Gabriel Adejuwon, who is the Onisan of Isan Ekiti, at a meeting with the two sides sought an amicable resolution to the crisis.

The traditional rulers urged Aribisogan to withdraw the suit he filed to contest his impeachment, while asking the Adelugba -led faction to reinstate the suspended lawmakers.

But, Aribisogan while featuring on a local political programme aired on Adaba FM monitored by our correspondent in Ado-Ekiti, insisted on going ahead with the suit to save his political career and the constitution from the mud.

He said the traditional rulers’ directive that suits against the party be withdrawn was only advisory and not by fiat, adding that the case would be pursued to a logical conclusion.

The embattled lawmaker added that the process of his purported impeachment was nothing but a charade. He said: “ An election has taken place and winner emerged but the winner was not allowed to take his place as the speaker. With the kind of irresponsibility which went with the so-called impeachment, no right-thinking person will allow the State to go into crisis. What the legal icons have done is commendable in saying that the unconstitutional act should not be allowed.

“ If there is anything that is threatening them, that means what they have done is the one threatening them. We were together on Monday at the meeting of the Ekiti Obas and they embraced me, pleading that I should allow everything to slide. If I am threatening them, how come they came near me?

“ We are talking about the constitution of the country and if the party is violating it, I won’t accept it and I have told them I won’t be part of a constitutional breach, and let me say that at the appropriate time, the court will vindicate me. I am 60-year-old, I have children looking up to me and they will ask me questions.

“As I have said to them, the number of people by my side does not matter again, even if it is 25 of them against only me, I am not going to back down regardless of whoever might be talking of resolution or perhaps reconciliation. We are reconciling and we are not fighting and it is on the principle that some of us have stood on the side of justice and truth.”

Ekiti Assembly crisis: I won’t withdraw court case- Aribisogan

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