Ondo State’s deputy governor, Lucky Aiyedatiwa, has petitioned the Akure-based state high court to halt the impeachment motions brought by the state house of assembly against him.
Ebun Adenoruwa SAN, the embattled deputy governor, asked the court to stay the impeachment process against him pending the hearing and determination of the suit he filed on Monday.
Following a letter to Aiyedatiwa last week alleging gross misconduct while he was serving as acting governor of Ondo State, the state House of Assembly started the process of impeaching the deputy governor.
Defendants in the suit include the Ondo State Government, the Governor of Ondo State, Rotimi Akeredolu, the Ondo State House of Assembly, the Speaker of Ondo State House of Assembly, Olumide Oladiji, the Clerk of Ondo State House of Assembly, and the Chief Judge of the state.
In the initial summons, the deputy governor requested an “injunction restraining the defendants and their agents, privies, and representatives from interfering with, restricting, disempowering, and/or preventing the claimant from discharging his constitutional duties and functions as the duly elected deputy governor in a joint and equal ticket with the governor of Ondo State.
He also sought “an order forthwith reinstating the total rights and privileges attached or accruing to the office of the claimant as duly elected Deputy Governor, which include, but are not limited to, the restoration of all media aides and press crew attached to the office of the claimant as Deputy Governor of the State.
Aiyedatiwa requested “an order setting aside any purported process or notice of any allegation of gross misconduct against the claimant on the ground that such process or notice is a violation of Section 188 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”