The fate of Governor Akinwunmi Ambode seems to be hanging in the balance as the state House Assembly on Monday issued an impeachment threat on him over allegation of ‘misconduct’ part of which borders on the state 2019 budget.
The lawmakers at its plenary on Monday evening accused the governor of committing atrocities bordering on spending budget that had not been laid before the House of Assembly and approved by the lawmakers.
Out of the 34 lawmakers who spoke at the plenary, 28 of them called for the impeachment of the governor while six others called on the governor to resign.
Also, the lawmakers, who were absent, through a voice vote stood for the impeachment of the governor.
Mudashiru Obasa, the speaker of Assembly said there was need for the house to give Ambode the last chance to appear before the lawmakers and explain the allegations and infractions levelled against him.
He said the assembly was given the governor one week to appear before it to explain his own side of the story or faced impeachment.
Obasa, therefore, asked the lawmaker who still wanted the governor to be impeached to start gathering signatures.
The lawmakers, therefore, agreed to summon the governor, the commissioners for finance; economic planning and budget and the attorney general to appear at their next meeting on Monday.
There has been no love lust between Ambode and the lawmakers since the October 2, 2018 APC governorship primaries which Ambode lost to Babajide Sanwo-Olu.
The party leadership in Lagos had been angry with Ambode for contesting the primaries in the first place against all entreaties to step down for Sanwo-Olu.
The frosty relations had been aggravated by the non presentation of 2019 appropriation bill, leading to accusations and counter-accusations between the two arms of government in the state.
Recall that an attempt by Ambode to present the N852.317 billion 2019 budget last week was frustrated by the lawmakers who said they were not ready yet.
The executive said last week Monday it was ready for the budget presentation while legislature on the other hand turned back State-House journalists who had gone to the House of Assembly to cover the proposed budget presentation, saying they were holding a private meeting and not ready yet.
The executive had also four weeks ago said that the contents of the 2019 budget had been sent to the house since December 2018. The lawmakers had responded swiftly, saying the governor sent the budget at a time when they were in recess and demanded that Governor Ambode come personally to lay the budget before the house as required by law.
Joshua Bassey
