Oyo State High Court, sitting in Ibadan, has dismissed the suit filed by the deputy governor of the state, Rauf Olaniyan, to stop the state House of Assembly from impeaching him.
Olaniyan had dragged the House to court following moves by the lawmakers to remove him. In the suit, he listed the Speaker, Oyo State House of Assembly, Oyo State House of Assembly and Clerk of the Assembly as first, second and third defendants respectively.
However, Justice Ladiran Akintola in his ruling, yesterday, held that the defendants did not breach the constitutional provisions in the removal of a governor or his deputy as contained in Section 188 of the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria.
The judge dismissed all the nine prayers brought by Olaniyan on the grounds that the lawmakers substantially complied with the provisions of Section 188 of the Constitution on the removal procedure. The constitutional provisions, he said, empowered the legislature to initiate removal process against the governor or deputy governor supported by at least one-third of the lawmakers. He said in Olaniyan’s case, more than 20 of the 32-member House of Assembly supported the removal moves
The judge held that the process of removal of governor or deputy governor from an office and originating summons filed by the claimant were purely legislative and not judicial, according to the 1999 Constitution. He added that the allegations were clear enough for the claimant to understand.
The judiciary, according to him, cannot stop the legislature from performing its constitutional assigned legislative duties.
“No proceedings of the House can be entertained in any court. Therefore, the claimant’s case is accordingly dismissed,” he ruled.
Meanwhile, the Oyo deputy governor has headed for the Court of Appeal. His lead counsel, Afolabi Fashanu (SAN),has filed notice of appeal and application for stay of execution of the judgment delivered by the lower court, yesterday. The appeal was filed less than one hour after the judgment was delivered.
Allegations against Olaniyan include gross misconduct, abuse of office, financial recklessness, abandonment of office and official duty, as well as insubordination and other offences.
The allegations were raised by 23 of the 32 lawmakers after Olaniyan dumped the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC), based on the alleged frosty relationship between him and Governor Seyi Makinde.
