The Ondo State House of Assembly has vowed to proceed with the impeachment process against the Deputy Governor of the State, Lucky Aiyedatiwa, despite his legal efforts to stop it.
Aiyedatiwa had asked an Akure high court to stop the state assembly from initiating, continuing, or proceeding with the process of removing him from office.
However, in a statement, the House Speaker, Rt. Hon. Oladiji Olamide Adesanmi, assured the public that the assembly will follow the required constitutional procedures during the impeachment process.
The House further refer to the Abaribe V. Abia State House of Assembly case, highlighting that courts should only intervene if impeachment procedures are breached, and in this case, none have been.
The statement said, “The Court of Appeal then restated that by the provision of Section 188 (10) of the Constitution, no court has the jurisdiction at that stage to interfere in the legislative proceedings for impeachment.
“The Supreme Court has repeatedly restated that the Court can only intervene when the procedures for impeachment have been breached. In this case however, the Deputy Governor rushed to court even before the notice of impeachment was served on him. For the records, no procedures have been breached in any way.
“In view of these, the House has directed its team of Lawyers to investigate the purported injunction secured by the Deputy Governor and report any judicial officer who might have abused his office in granting the unconstitutional ex-parte injunction to the appropriate institution for necessary disciplinary action.”