It was a coup that failed. At least that is what analysts of the political situation in Ondo State believe.
And following the failed coup, the state’s 73-year-old deputy governor, Alhaji Ali Olanusi, is about to lose his position.
Ondo State Governor, Olusegun Mimiko
Members of the Ondo House of Assembly have issued him an impeachment notice and about 24 hours later directed the Chief of Judge of the state, Justice Olaseinde Kumuyi, to raise a panel to probe allegations of gross misconduct leveled against him.
20 of the 26 members of the Assembly signed the impeachment notice.
The gladiators had a robust relationship all through the first term of the administration.
Their frosty relationship started just before the second term ticket was handed to Governor Olusegun Mimiko as pressure mounted on him to do away with the ‘old school deputy governor’ and settle for a new generation lieutenant. Olanusi accused the governor of sponsoring against him those who do not want him to “enjoy the fruit of his labour during the second term.”
In a bid not to offend some traditional rulers from the four Akoko areas of the state where the deputy hails from, the governor glossed over the case against him despite strong opposition even from Olanusi’s constituency.
Many saw Mimiko’s action as deliberate as they believed the governor would prefer to settle for an old man who will not undercut him politically.
But he was dead wrong as his deputy allegedly kept complaining of marginalization in the affairs of the state.
The frosty relationship between Mimiko and Olanusi was said to have lingered until the deputy governor found an ally in the opposition All Progressive Congress, APC, and was connected by a former close aide to the governor with the party’s warlords who also wanted to use the deputy governor to score some political goal.
Mimiko was becoming a torn in the flesh of the warlords who wanted to capture the state at all costs.
An opportunity came knocking when a dummy was allegedly sold to Olanusi that he could become the governor if he defected to the APC before the just concluded general elections.
Olanusi allegedly bought into the plan that the APC will win majority seats in the state House of Assembly election following which the lawmakers will be used to remove Mimiko and he will replace him.
The coup was said to have been hacked in Osogbo and Lagos and, when the general elections were only 48 hours, the deputy governor jumped ship and PDP leaders in the state, led by Mimiko, were caught pants down.
Olanusi
It was said that the action of Olanusi shocked the governor and, when it became clear what was being cooked for him, he was humbled and went back to the drawing table to re-startegise.
The results of the presidential and the National Assembly elections complicated the matter for Mimiko who had boasted that he will deliver one million votes from Ondo for President Goodluck Jonathan.
The boast evaporated when the APC presidential candidate, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, trashed the president in the election while the PDP equally performed abysmally poor in the National Assembly election.
To the deputy governor’s new found camp, their plans were said to have been going on as planned and, with time, the bubble will burst and Mimiko will fall.
After the March 28 elections, the APC, basking in the euphoria of its performance nationwide, thought the April 11 state Assemb ly poll in Ondo would lead to the impeachment of Mimiko but he wriggled out of the web and he is now hunting all the alleged coup planners.
The PDP secured 21 seats in the state House of Assembly election, leaving five seats for the APC.
A former governorship candidate of the PDP in the state and a business mogul allegedly joined forces with the embattled deputy governor to send his boss packing from Akure Government House.
The former PDP gubernatorial candidate, according to the script, was to follow the deputy governor by also defecting 24hours before the April 11 House of Assembly election while the business mogul allegedly directed members of his faction within the PDP in the state to vote for APC candidates so as to deprive the PDP the majority seats in the assembly as a prelude to the fall of Mimiko.
The plan, it was learnt, was that after the governor would have been impeached and the deputy who defected but did not resign as the deputy governor becomes the governor, the former gubernatorial candidate will be made Olanusi’s deputy to finish Mimiko’s less than two years remaining tenure.
The former gubernatorial candidate, according to a reliable source, was equally promised that he will be handed over the APC governorship ticket in 2016.
All these promises have evaporated and the hunter is now being hunted.
Olanusi has been left in the lurch after the coup to kick out Mimiko fell like a pack of cards .
He is said to be taking refuge in Osogbo and Lagos where some APC leaders are allegedly strategising on how to save him from the hang men.
All appears set for the impeachment of the deputy governor as the state lawmakers served him impeachment notice and, about 24 hours after, directed the Chief Judge of the state, Kumuyi, to set up a seven member panel to probe the seven allegations of gross misconduct against him.
Meanwhile, the Speaker of the House of Assembly, Rt Hon Jumoke Akindele, has assured that Olanusi would be given the opportunity to defend the allegations against him.
The members of the State Executive Council also disowned the deputy governor, saying they will not dabble into a matter they described as “ a constitutional matter”.
Allegations of gross misconduct against him include financial misappropriation, absenteeism from official duties and causing political disaffection in the cabinet of the state government.
The motion for impeachment was moved by the Majority Leader of the House, Hon Ifedayo Akinsoyinu, from Ondo West Constituency II, and seconded by one of Olanusi’s kinsmen, Hon Yinka Banso, from Akoko North West Constituency I .
Akindele said the deputy governor should be served the notice personally, through the office of the deputy governor or through his official residential quarters.
The allegations, as catalogued in the impeachment notice against Olanusi, read: “That Alhaji Alli Olanusi, being the holder of the office of deputy governor, permitted and condoned the perpetuation of fraudulent activities in the office of deputy governor in that one Alhaji Bola Idris Olanusi, the younger brother and Special Assistant in the office of the deputy governor, procured false LPO, with the knowledge of Alhaji Alli Olanusi and obtained from ESHO Resources International Limited, two trucks of AGO with forged documents and for personal benefits, thereby putting the office of the deputy governor into disrepute.
“That Alhaji Olanusi, being the holder of the office of deputy governor of Ondo State and having full knowledge that his younger brother, Alhaji Bola Idris Olanusi, who, at all material time was his personal staff, engaged in activities unbecoming of official of government, refused to sanction, query or discipline the said staff, thus bringing the office of the deputy governor into disrepute.
“That Alhaji Olanusi, being the holder of the office of deputy governor of Ondo State, engaged in absenteeism and truancy by regularly assenting himself from office, place of work and all other official engagements specifically between April 13 to 17 April and Monday 20th April, 2015 without lawful excuse or authorisation but generally acting in a manner inconsistent with the dictates and expectations of the high office of the deputy governor of a state, thus undermining the governance process, in act which amounts to gross misconduct under the constitution.
“ That Alhaji Olanusi, being the holder of the office of deputy governor at various dates, collected various sums of money N39. 9million between 2009 and 2014 for the purpose of travelling and medical bill when, in actual fact, the said Alhaji Olanusi did not travel on the said specified dates or did not travel at all and or did not expend the approved medical bills as appropriate, thereby unlawfully enriching himself and or causing loss to the state government “
Reacting to the impeachment notice, the Ondo APC described it as laughable.
A statement by its Publicity Secretary, Abayomi Adesanya, in Akure, said: “We are aware of the purported impeachment notice served on the deputy governor, Alhaji Ali Olanusi, by the Ondo State House of Assembly.
“So it is laughable for the rubber-stamp House of Assembly to have claimed it has served the deputy governor an impeachment notice knowing fully well that the law does not permitt to serve impeachment notice in absentia. The notice is a nullity.”
Olanusi also said “ I am yet to be officially informed about this development”.
He added: “You will get my full reaction if and whenever I’m officially and lawfully informed.”
In a related development, some aides of the embattled deputy governor assured that he would not be disgraced out of office.
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