An Akure High Court on Tuesday struck out an application by the State Deputy Governor, Lucky Aiyedatiwa, to restrain the State Chief Judge from setting up an investigative panel following an impeachment process initiated by the state House of Assembly.
Aiyedatiwa had brought the application on October 13, 2023, urging the High Court to interprete section 188 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), if the State Chief Judge has power to extend the seven days granted by the law to set up an investigative panel to probe the Assembly’s allegations of gross misconduct against the deputy governor.
However, at the resumed hearing of the case yesterday, Counsel to the deputy governor, Mr Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa (SAN), moved to withdraw the application, and this was not opposed to by the Counsel to the State House of Assembly, Mr Femi Emodamori.
Justice Akintan Osadebe did not waste time to strike out the application.
Justice Osadebe had last week fined Aiyedatiwa the sum of N200,000 to be paid to the respondents (the State House of Assembly, Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu and others), due to absence of the deputy governor’s legal team in the court.
On Monday an Akure High Court presided over by Justice D.I. Kolawole did not rule on a similar application brought by counsel to the deputy governor, Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa, urged the court to interprete section 188 of the 1999 constitution as amended, if the State Chief Judge has power to extend the seven days granted by the law to set up an investigative panel to probe the Assembly’s allegations against the deputy governor.
Justice Kolawole did not rule on the application after the Counsel to the State House of Assembly, Mr Femi Emodamori, vehemently opposed it.
Emodamori argued that since Aiyedatiwa had sued the State Chief Judge “for himself and all the Judges of Ondo State High Court” as the 5th Defendant in his Counterclaim, all the High Court Judges are parties to the Counter-Claim and none of them, including Justice D.I Kolawole, can adjudicate the case, because it is a cardinal rule of justice that no one can be a Judge in his own case.
Ruling on the application, Justice Kolawole directed all the parties to maintain the peace and adjourned the case till November 22, 2023 to enable parties file relevant processes and documents.
