The Ekiti State Council of Traditional Rulers has urged Governor Ayodele Fayose and the embattled Speaker of the House of Assembly, Dr. Adewale Omirin, to stop heating the polity.

The council expressed concern over the feud between the two arms of government in the state, lamenting that a purely domestic matter had been taken outside the shores of the state.

The Ekiti monarchs noted that both Fayose and Omirin were representatives of the people and therefore should not do anything against the interest of the state.

A communiqué issued at the end of the council’s meeting on Tuesday and read by its chairman, the Onitaji of Itaji, Oba Adamo Babalola, said, “As major stakeholders and leaders of our people, the council has decided to intervene by calling the two parties to order in the overall interest of Ekiti State.

“Having painstakingly considered the issues involved, council therefore resolved to invite the two parties to a roundtable discussion geared towards restoring peace, concord and a harmonious working relationship between the two arms of government.”

Fayose and the factional Speaker of the Ekiti State House of Assembly, Dele Olugbemi, have however said that Omirin and the other 18 All Progressives Congress lawmakers were free to return to the state.

But Olugbemi said Omirin must be prepared to return to the Assembly as an ordinary member and not as the Speaker since he had been impeached.

Speaking after the closed-door meeting with the Council of Traditional Rulers in Ado-Ekiti, Fayose said the claim by the APC lawmakers that their lives were not safe was political and full of lies.

The governor said he would put in place measures to tackle insecurity in the state.

Omirin, who was purportedly impeached by seven Peoples Democratic Party’s legislators last Thursday, had on Tuesday told journalists on the phone that the 19 APC lawmakers would not resume legislative duties until the governor could guarantee their safety.

Answering questions from journalists in Ado-Ekiti on Tuesday, Fayose said, “It is my duty to guarantee the security of lives and property of all Ekiti citizens as the Chief Security Officer.

“What Omirin and his supporters are saying are mere political statements. That they are not safe cannot be true. You know when we are playing politics, we can say anything.

“I have taken the oath to protect the lives and property of all Ekiti men and women, irrespective of their political beliefs and I cannot do anything to negate that oath.

“I want to emphasise that Omirin and I are brothers and I am ready to work with him. I am a man of good conscience in this matter and one with good conscience fears no foe. So, I appeal to them to return home and work for the progress of our dear state.”

Olugbemi, in a statement in Ado-Ekiti on Tuesday by his media assistant, Mr. Femi Iroko, said Omirin and the other APC lawmakers were free to come back to Ekiti if they did not have any sinister motive.

He said, “It is not Governor Ayo Fayose that is preventing them from coming back to Ekiti. If he (Omirin) doesn’t have any sinister motive, he should be free to come back.

“When coming back, he should be ready to return as an ordinary member of the House, more so that he has gone to the court to challenge my election as the Speaker of the Ekiti State House of Assembly.

“He should wait for the outcome of his court case to know what his fate is. I will welcome him just like any other member of the House elected by their constituencies.

“He should be ready to work together with us to move Ekiti forward and out of the monumental debt the former administration plunged it.

“Putting food on the tables of Ekiti people and putting smiles on their faces is more germane to the Fayose administration. We must put the interest of Ekiti people above our own personal interests.”

Meanwhile, the APC has urged Fayose to provide security for Ekiti people to allow social and economic activities thrive.

Reacting to armed robbery cases in the state, the APC publicity secretary, Taiwo Olatubosun, said insecurity in the state negated the campaign promises made by the governor.

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