Mimiko, who was in the Presidential Villa on Tuesday to meet with Acting President, Yemi Osinbajo, said that even though Akindele was ready to step aside to give room for the reconfiguration of power structure in the State, 13 members of the 26-member House lacked the constitutional power to impeach her.
Speaking to State House correspondents, after a meeting with Osinbajo, he aligned with those, who said that there was the need for the Speaker of the State Assembly to emerge from another zone, to balance the power equation in the State.
He said that Akindele was ready to step aside.
Mimiko, who said he was not at the Presidential Villa to discuss the crisis in the State Assembly with Osinbajo, added that elder statesmen in the State were already exploring ways to end the crisis.
According to the Ondo State Governor, the crisis was not directly related to his attempt to present the State 2017 budget for consideration of the Assembly even though his administration was coming to an end.
“The matter is being looked into. It’s an internal matter within the House, and I think some elders statesmen and leaders in the State are looking at how they can help them to get over the crisis.
“I don’t think it’s directly related. There is nothing sacrosanct about the method of presenting budget if you know what am talking about.
“I think it’s just about changing leadership structure in the house and all of that.
“The governor now is from the northern central district, and the deputy governor is from the southern central district, and then, the speaker is from the south.
“There are those; who feel that she should step aside so that they can get someone from the central senatorial district. I think that has been sorted out.
“I believe that the speaker should come from the central senatorial district, but the issue is the method.
“The sitting speaker now has made it abundantly clear that she is ready to step aside, she is ready to resign her position.
“But the group that purportedly impeached her, not even a simple majority can impeach the speaker, it has to be two-thirds. That is to tell you about the fact that 13 out of 26 members of the house don’t have constitutional or legal empowerment to impeach the speaker.
“But as I speak with you now, she is ready to step aside any time once the House is properly constituted,” he said.
Mimiko disclosed that he discussed with Osinbajo the possibility of the acting President coming to Ondo State to commission some projects.
“My mission to the acting President is to brief him about what we are doing to exit. There are some projects that, if he can spare the time, we would like him to come to the state to commission some of them,” he stated.