GOVERNOR Rotimi Akeredolu of Ondo State paid a surprise visit to the state house of assembly to investigate claims that a snake fell into the chambers when lawmakers were sitting and got those present to confirm that the whole story was made up.
Last week, it was reported that a python fell out of the roof of the Ondo State House of Assembly while lawmakers were in session forcing them to abandon the plenary. Members of the house were said to have fled and vowed not to return until the Ondo State government addressed the problem.
Unconvinced by the far-fetched story, Governor Akeredolu visited the Ondo State House of Assembly complex and found that no snake had fallen from the ceiling and all that happened was that a section of the roof was termite infested. Hon Bamidele Oloyelogun, the speaker of the Ondo State House of Assembly, who received the governor, admitted that no snake fell out of the roof and the images being published were photoshops.
Governor Akeredolu said the whole story was an attempt to blackmail the state government and he would not tolerate it. He accused the lawmakers of embarrassing his administration and promised that a committee would be set up to investigate the whole saga.
“This is an attempt to ridicule and blackmail the government in the state and I think we won’t take it. The principal officers of the house have confirmed to me that neither a snake nor the roof fell on the speaker during plenary,” Governor Akeredolu added.
Hon Oloyelogun said the media misrepresented the house on the snake in the chamber, stressing that no snake or the roof fell on him. He blamed past administrations for the infrastructural decay in the assembly complex.
Over the last 10 years, N2m has been budgeted annually for the fumigation of the Ondo State House of Assembly complex and N57m allocated monthly. According to Hon Oloyelogun, the problem is that this money had not been released by previous administrations.
