Mohammed Shosanya
The Deputy Governor of Ondo State, Lucky Aiyedatiwa,Tuesday,asked the Chief Judge of the state, Hon Justice Olusola Odusola to ignore the request of the House of Assembly to constitute a seven-man panel of investigators into allegations of gross misconduct.
This is contained in a seven-page letter written by legal luminary and leading counsel to the Deputy Governor, Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa, SAN, submitted to the Chief Judge in Akure on Tuesday 24th October 2023.
The Assembly had written a letter to the Chief Judge on 23rd October 2023, asking him to constitute a seven-man panel to probe the Deputy Governor, claiming that the orders of injunction granted by the Federal High Court, Abuja, have expired.
In the letter delivered in the office of the Chief Judge on 24th October 2023, Aiyedatiwa through his lawyer criticized the position of the Assembly, which he said was based on conjectures, misconceptions, inconsistencies, undue desperation and misconstruction of the law.
According to him,the orders granted by the Federal High Court, Abuja on 26th September 2023 are still in force and they remain valid and subsisting, contrary to the erroneous conclusion of the Assembly that the said orders have expired by operation of law.
On Order 26 Rule 10 (2) and (3) of the Federal High Court Rules 2019, the Deputy Governor argued that the court in Abuja has been given a wide discretion to determine the nature, status and duration of any order granted and in this case, the Court directed that the Orders granted on 26th September 2023 should last till the hearing and determination of the Motion on Notice for interlocutory injunction, which is still pending before the court.
He stated that based on the two proceedings of the Federal High Court, Abuja of 9th and 16th October 2023, the Court has not set aside the pending orders and the order cannot be extinguished by the application to set it aside since it was combined with the hearing of the substantive suit.
He drew the attention of the Chief Judge to the inconsistent action of the Assembly which on one hand is claiming that the Orders have expired whilst on the other hand it is pursuing an appeal against the said Orders.
He referred the Chief Judge to the Motion on Notice filed by the Assembly at the Court of Appeal, Abuja on 20th October, 2023 where it stated that the Orders granted by the Federal High Court are still valid and subsisting because they are tied to the hearing and determination of the Deputy Governor’s motion on notice for interlocutory injunction.
He queried whether the Assembly can approbate and reprobate at the same time by stating under oath in Court that the Orders are still valid and pending while at the same time writing a letter to the Chief Judge claiming that the Orders have expired.
He urged the Chief Judge as follows:”My Lord the Honourable Chief Judge is thus humbly urged not to accede to the request expressed in the letter of the Speaker of the Ondo State House of Assembly of 23rd October instant but to await the due determination of the various cases pending before the Courts and the appeal of the House of Assembly before the Court of Appeal”.
