Former Deputy Speaker, Ondo State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Ogundeji Iroju on Tuesday April 22nd, 2025 marked his 57th birthday.
As part of activities for the special day, the legal practitioner invited some selected eminent personalities in the political class, legal profession as well as the media to celebrate and appreciate them instead.
In this Special Interview with Roving Reporters, Iroju went down memory lane on his travails in politics during the time of former Ondo state Governor, Late Oluwarotimi Akeredolu.
Excerpts;
Why Did You Decide To Mark Your Birthday By Celebrating Others ?
Thank you. Incidentally, today happens to be the anniversary of my birthday. But I decided and deliberately to invite few people to come and celebrate with me. And not only that I want them to come and celebrate with me, I equally want to celebrate those people that I have invited.
You will recall that sometimes about three, four, five years back in Ondo State, I was the Deputy Speaker of the 9th Assembly of the Ondo State House of Assembly and at that time, there was crisis that broke up between the governor, Oluwarotimi Akeredolu and his deputy, then Agboola Ajayi. At that time, the governor wanted me and some of my colleagues to join other members of the house to impeach his deputy, which nine of us resisted.
And to the glory of God, it’s in the history of this country, it has never happened. Till today, Honorable Agboola Ajayi happened to be the only deputy governor that was tried to be impeached and could not be impeached. So as at that time, I was unlawfully and illegally suspended from office.
At the same time, I was impeached by the power that be then for the fact that I refused to join multitude to do evil at that time. And there and then, I have to approach the court to reinstate me back as a result of the legal and unlawful suspension and impeachment meted on me by the power that be.
The matter dragged between me and government for almost four, five years, which eventually, finally resolved by the Court of Appeal last year.
So at the end of the day, the now governor, Governor LuckyAiyedatiwa, when the government, through the Ministry of Justice, decided to appeal that judgment from the Court of Appeal to the Supreme Court, the governor insisted that he’s not interested in that case, that the matter should not be appealed upon again, that I should be settled and all the order given by the court must be followed and implemented to the letter. So I now deem it fit, having considered some months after which this matter had been laid to rest, to celebrate those people that stood with me during my trial period. It was very, very difficult.
There are so many journalists in this state at that time. Some of them stood with me. There are so many lawyers, legal practitioners that I engaged in their services who helped me in court. And at the end of the day, God gave us victory.
And I consider it very imperative to celebrate them equally and that group of nine legislators that refused to be used, that refused to be purchased, that refused to be bought over by the power that be in that unlawful impeachment, I equally deem it fit to celebrate them.
How do you feel each time you remember those trying period?
Well, as of today, I appreciate Almighty God and I appreciate the governor for the role he played when he became governor. Each time I remember, well, I don’t need to revenge. I owe everything to Almighty God because God has given me victory.
And that is why I decided that I have to celebrate those people that stood with me during the period of that trial. So for now, no victory, no vanquish. I’ve decided to forgive those people that wronged me.
And I equally use the opportunity to equally tell or appeal to those people that one way or the other I might have wronged for my not participating in that illegal or unlawful impeachment at that time to equally forgive.
So, but above all, I owe everything to Almighty God who has given me the courage, who has given me the will, who has given me even the life long to witness that troubles and that trials and at the end of the day, come victorious. So I owe it to all of them and more especially to those three categories of people that I’ve mentioned.
So do you at any time regret any of your actions during that period ?
At all, at all, at all. I appreciate God and I appreciate the people that God used to assist me at that time.
If I had every other opportunity, I would do the same that I did at that time. I thank God. I thank God today. I am reaping the fruit of what I did at that time because I stood with truth. I stood with my conscience and I stood with the mandate of the people of Ondo State.
What lesson do you think the present people in government, especially the 10th Assembly, can learn from your ordeal at the 9th Assembly?
I only encourage them and I’ve been encouraging them not to only at the expense of the judgment of their own office because they are voted into office to go and represent the good people of this state.
They should do what the people want them to do, not that they should be working towards the caprices of the government of the day at all time.
Government will want them to do what is not right at times, but they should equally mind the fact that they are representing the state, not a set of executive or government. They should do what is right at all time.
