Aiyedatiwa to Ondo CJ: Disregard Assembly’s Directive to Investigate Me

Fidelis David in Akure

The Deputy Governor of Ondo State, Mr Lucky Aiyedatiwa, yesterday, called on the state Chief Judge, Olusegun Odusola, to disregard the request by the state House of Assembly to set up a seven-man panel to investigate the 14 allegations of gross misconduct levelled against him.
The embattled deputy governor is facing impeachment process  over alleged financial misappropriation bordering on the alleged approval of N300 million for the purchase of bulletproof SUV for himself, financial recklessness, andpublication in print media by his media aides maligning the credibility of the governor among others.

The Assembly had Tuesday issued a fresh directive to the state Chief Judge to “immediately” set up a seven-man panel to investigate Aiyedatiwa despite a court order rearranging the Assembly from the impeachment process.

However,  the deputy governor, in a letter to to the CJ, explained that in line with the valid and subsisting order of the Federal High Court, Abuja and in the best traditions of due regard for due process of law and respect for the authority of the Court, the CJ should  disregard any motion, letter, application or request from the Ondo State House of Assembly, for the constitution of any panel of investigation in respect of the deputy governor of Ondo state, until the two pending cases are fully decided by the various courts with jurisdiction over them.

The letter, written on his behalf by a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Ebunoluwa Adegboruwa, dated October 5, 2023, justified that Section 188 (2) of the 1999 Constitution made it mandatory that the holder of the office SHALL be served with the notice before the House of Assembly is conferred with jurisdiction to sit on the removal proceedings.

s in flagrant violation of the section when it convened its plenary proceedings on September 20, 2023 before the holder of the office was served, in breach of the constitutional and fundamental right to fair hearing of his Client (the Deputy Governor).
The letter partly read: “We are solicitors to His Excellency, the Deputy Governor of Ondo State, Mr. Lucky Orimisan Aiyedatiwa (our client) on whose behalf we write this letter on the above subject matter.

“We refer to our letter dated September 25, 2023 written to My Lord on this matter, regarding the suit filed by our Client before the High Court, Akure in respect of the unlawful attempts of the Ondo State House of Assembly to conduct proceedings for his removal from office.
“The court processes in the said Suit No. AK/348/2023 have now been duly served on My Lord and all the defendants in the said suit, including the House of Assembly.

“We will like to draw the attention of My Lord to the following undisputed facts: On September 25, 2023, our Client filed a Motion on Notice for various orders of interlocutory injunction against his planned removal from office by the Ondo State House of Assembly. The said application has been served on ALL the defendants in the suit, including the House of Assembly.

Realising that our Client had filed a suit before the Akure High Court, the Ondo State House of Assembly claimed to have served a Notice of acts of gross misconduct on some persons different from our Client in the late afternoon of September 25, 2023, after Suit No. AK/348/2023 had been filed, against the said removal proceedings. The said notice is required by law to be served on our client personally, for it to be effective.
“On September 26, 2023, our Client filed a Motion on Notice before the Akure High Court, for an order to stay further proceedings on the said Notice by the Ondo State House of Assembly and indeed all the defendants in Suit No. AK/248/2023 supra. The said application has been served on all the defendants in the suit.

“On September 26, 2023, it became a matter of public knowledge that the Federal High Court, Abuja in Suit No. FHC/ABJ/1294/2023, per Emeka Nwite, J., granted an order, restraining all the defendants IN THE said suit, including the Ondo state House of Assembly, from proceeding with the planned removal proceedings against our client.

“My Lord is a defendant in the said suit upon whom the order of the Court has been duly served. In particular, the Federal High Court granted an order, restraining My Lord from constituting any panel of investigation at the instance of the Ondo State House of Assembly.”Ipsed in Etrum modient