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Bamigbola Gbolagunte,
The Ondo State House of Assembly has suspended two lawmakers for their alleged involvement in unruly behaviour.
The suspended lawmakers are the Deputy Speaker of the House, Hon Iroju Ogundeji and Hon Adewale Williams.
The lawmakers allegedly made noise and shouted continuously during Tuesday’s plenary while debating on the impeachment of Deputy Governor Mr Agboola Ajayi.
The House had been split on the matter, with 14 lawmakers in support of Governor Rotimi Akeredolu and nine in support of Ajayi.
Tuesday plenary session saw as pro-Akeredolu and pro-Ajayi lawmakers engaged in heated arguments.
Notwithstanding the melee, House Speaker David Oleyelogun directed the Clerk of the House to serve the Deputy Governor an impeachment notice, as the House commenced the impeachment process against the Deputy Governor.
Meanwhile, Mr Ajayi urged the state’s Chief Judge, Justice Oluwatoyin Akeredolu, not to allow politicians to use her office to carry out what he has condemned as an illegal impeachment exercise.
Ajayi in a statement issued by his media aide, Allen Sowore, urged the chief judge not to join in the arrangements to compromise the judiciary.
The letter reads:
‘The founding value of our constitution is the enshrinement of the supremacy of the constitution and the rule of law. This creates an ideal legal world, which your good office has the task of translating into reality as envisaged by the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999. In a nutshell, the calling of your office is to uphold the integrity and supremacy of the constitution.
‘In an ideal democracy, all power, especially state power, must be exercised under the law and according to the dictates of the law. If law governs power then it should be able to regulate those that are subject to it. The constitution of our country and the values in it, stand supreme – above the legislature, the executive and above all judicial officers.
‘Like never before, as the Chief Judge of Ondo State, the move by the Governor of Ondo State, Arakunrin Rotimi Akeredolu to remove the deputy governor, Hon. Agboola Ajayi from office through the State House of Assembly gives you a vital opportunity to uphold the integrity of Ondo State judiciary and its independence.
‘This open letter is coming to you at this auspicious time because of the sacred role you may have to play in the imminent plan by the Ondo State Governor, Arakunrin Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, SAN to remove his Deputy, Alfred Agboola Ajayi by all means possible and at all cost. The government’s position is not hidden; it is already in the public space.
‘It’s needless mentioning the level of desperation which Mr Governor has shown on this vexatious matter because history already has a place for his hypocritical stance in the law profession being a former President, Nigeria Bar Association (NBA). But your lordship, you have a name and integrity to protect. The cerebral Chinua Achebe once said that: “One of the truest tests of integrity is its blunt refusal to be compromised.”
‘If there’s any time the good people of Ondo State need your integrity, it’s now! And the reason is not farfetched as the Governor has succeeded in compromising his party’s leadership in the state; the legislature. However, we, the people of Ondo State, still hold this belief that the judiciary is the last hope of the common man.
‘Your Lordship, the point here is that the impeachment process initiated by 15 members of the 9th session of the Ondo State House of Assembly on 7th July 2020, is dead on arrival. This is because simultaneously, nine members of the same Assembly jointly signed a resolution disassociating themselves from the whole process. The implication of the action of the nine parliamentarians is that the planned impeachment of the Deputy Governor cannot proceed beyond the signed notice of impeachment,’ he added.
