By Ken Afor
Justice Olusegun Odusola, the chief judge of Ondo State on Wednesday declined the State House of Assembly’s request to form a panel to look into the accusation of serious misconduct made against Hon. Lucky Aiyedatiwa, the deputy governor.
The assembly had ordered the Chief Judge to appoint a panel to investigate the deputy governor within seven days.
The majority leader of the State House of Assembly, Hon. Oluwole Ogunmolasuyi, confirmed this to newsmen and assured them that the deputy governor would be impeached in accordance with the law.
Ogunmolasuyi said that “The House would respect the law and due process would be followed on the matter.
”No matter the hindrance, we are going to follow the process”, he declared.
It was speculated that the Chief Judge had informed Assembly Speaker Rt. Hon. Olamide Oladiji that he would not be able to execute the assembly’s directive until the Abuja Federal High Court’s order, which halted the deputy governor’s impeachment proceedings, was overturned.
The speaker was informed about the Chief Judge’s position after the assembly gave him a seven-day deadline that ended on Tuesday.
However, the chief judge advised the speaker “to muster concerted efforts to vacate the order of the Abuja Federal High Court presided over by Justice Emeka Nwite, as an irreducible precondition for him to obey the Assembly’s directive.
The CJ has reached out to Mr. Speaker that he cannot set up a 7-member panel to probe the deputy governor as directed by the House, claiming that his hands are tied by the interim order issued by Justice Emeka Nwite, stopping the impeachment process.
It would be recalled during plenary session on October 3, the Chief Judge was given a seven-day notice to form a panel consisting of seven members to look into the fourteen serious charges of misconduct against the deputy governor.
His lawsuit contesting his impeachment by the State House of Assembly was dismissed by an Akure High court.
Judge O. Justice O. Akintan-Osadebay In order to prevent a conflicting decision between the Abuja Federal High Court and the Ondo High Court, declined jurisdiction in his ruling.
By bringing the same case before the high courts in Abuja and Akure, Akintan-Osadebay declared that forum shopping was a grave abuse of the legal system.
However, the deputy governor quickly responded by appealing the Akure court’s decision.
Additionally, his lawyer, Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa, SAN, reminded the Assembly in a statement that the Federal High Court of Abuja’s order was still in effect.
He said, “It has become necessary to emphasize the fact that the ORDERS of the Federal High Court, Abuja made on 26th September 2023 remain in force, valid and subsisting.
According to Adegboruwa, “The various orders of injunction were made pending the hearing and determination of the motion on notice. The motion on notice is still pending.
”It is not correct that an order of the federal high court automatically expires after fourteen days.
“This may be the case if the judge that granted the order did not direct otherwise.
“In this case, the judge directed otherwise by stating that the ORDERS will be in force until the hearing and determination of the motion on notice.
“Furthermore, there are two applications filed by the defendants in the suit against the orders of the court, one by the Governor of Ondo State to set aside the orders and the other by the Ondo House of Assembly to stay execution of the orders.
”In law, an ex-parte order made pending the hearing and determination of the motion on notice remains in force, valid, binding and subsisting until the said motion on notice is heard and determined.”
He added that ” In any event, the pendency of the suits against the impeachment proceedings effectively tie the hands of the defendants from proceeding with or taking any step that may jeopardize the hearing of the cases on the merits. We must learn to respect the rule of law, the authority of the court and due process.”
