Impeachment: Ondo deputy governor wants Akeredolu’s name dropped from suit

The Deputy Governor of Ondo State, Lucky Aiyedatiwa, has asked the State High Court to drop Governor Rotimi Akeredolu as a defendant from his suit against the state House of Assembly over its move to impeach him.

Mr Aiyedatiwa said this in an application to amend the originating summons as Justice Akintan Osade on Friday in Akure took arguments from both parties.

The deputy governor’s lawyers said the amendment became necessary to bring the substantive issues in the suit before the court.

Although the defendants did not file a counter-affidavit to the application, they opposed it on points of law.

Whilst counsel to the deputy governor urged the court to rule on the application before proceeding in the case, the court ruled that it would take it with the application by the House of Assembly challenging the jurisdiction of the court.

The House of Assembly had filed a motion on notice, dated 29th September, challenging the competence of the substantive case, relying on section 188 (10) of the Constitution which it said ousts the jurisdiction of the court.

It contended that the suit was premature since the Assembly is yet to conclude the proceedings of removal, especially when there was no request before the chief judge to constitute a panel of investigators as of the time the suit was filed.

The Assembly also contended that the case constitutes an abuse of the court process because a similar suit had been filed before the Federal High Court in Abuja by the deputy governor.

However, Mr Aiyedatiwa, through his counsel, urged the court to dismiss the application of the Assembly because it amounted to a demurrer in law as they ought to have filed their defence and then raised all their preliminary points of law in their defence.

He also argued that the court cannot conveniently make an application for an amendment along with a preliminary objection as the objection can only be based on the substantive suit that is to be amended.

The normal procedure would be to take the objection together with the substantive suit,” the deputy governor held.

He also argued that the Assembly had not placed any material before the Court to indicate compliance with the procedure for removal from office, such as evidence of personal service of the notice of allegations on him and service on all members of the Assembly.

He said the notice being circulated by the Assembly is invalid in law and also vitiated by the fact that the Assembly convened a plenary session on 20 September to discuss the notice ever before he was served.

He contended that the case in Abuja is between different parties and for different reliefs and that the Assembly had failed to supply details of the Abuja case to enable the court to make a comparison.

Mr Aiyedatiwa, therefore, urged the court to dismiss the objection as lacking in merit.

The court will rule on the applications on Tuesday