Ondo CJ Puts Impeachment Of Deputy Governor On Hold

The Chief Judge of Ondo State, Justice Olusegun Odusola has written to the State House of Assembly why he could not set up the seven-man committee to probe the Deputy Governor, Hon Lucky Aiyedatiwa.

The House of Assembly has directed the Chief Justice to set up a seven-man committee to investigate Aiyedatiwa over allegations of gross misconduct and financial impropriety.

However, the Deputy Governor filed suits at both the Federal and the State High Courts to prevent the impeachment processes.

While the Federal High Court granted an ex-parte order to restrain the Assembly, Chief Justice, and the governor from removing him from office, the State High Court dismissed the suit for abuse of court process.

This development has led to the
stalemate in the impeachment saga as both the lawmakers and the Chief Justice could not process until the order of the Federal High Court was either discharged or renewed.

It was learnt yesterday that Justice Odusola had intimated the Speaker of the State Assembly, Hon. Olamide Oladiji, that he would not be able to carry out the directive until the order of an Abuja Federal High Court, which stopped the impeachment process against Aiyedatiwa, was vacated.

It was gathered that Justice Odusola communicated his position on the festering issue to Speaker Oladiji as the seven-day deadline handed down to him by the state legislature expired on Tuesday.

The Assembly, at its plenary on Tuesday, October 3, had ordered Odusola to set up a 7-member panel to investigate 14 allegations bordering on official misconduct slammed against Aiyedatiwa within seven days.

A lawmaker in the State Assembly told this newspaper that Odusola 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 lawmaker said, ” The CJ has reached out to Mr. Speaker that he cannot set up a seven-man 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”

But the Majority Leader of the Assembly, Hon Oluwole Ogunmolasuyi said there was no stalemate in the impeachment processes.

Ogunmolasuyi said the Assembly would follow due process in the impeachment of the Deputy Governor as Section 188 of the 1999 Constitution stipulated how a governor or deputy could be impeached.

His words “We will follow due process no matter how the hindrance will be”.