Ondo Court lifts suspension on lawmaker

Bamigbola Gbolagunte, Akure

An Ondo State High Court sitting in Akure on wednesday nullified the indefinite suspension placed on a member of the state House of Assembly, Tomide Akinribido.

Akinribido, a member of the Zenith Labour Party (ZLP) who represents Ondo West Constituency 1 in the Assembly was one of the nine lawmakers who opposed the impeachment of the state Deputy Governor, Mr Agboola Ajayi few months ago

The lawmaker was suspended indefinitely in August by the leadership of the House over alleged gross misconduct.

Displeased with the action of the Assembly against him, the aggrieved legislator approached the State High Court to challenge the action .

Delivering his judgement, Justice Ademola Bola ruled that the Assembly had no power to place indefinite suspension on lawmakers, saying it could only regulate actions of its members and met out disciplinary actions on members.

The court held that the suspension of any member could not be more than one legislative day or a plenary sitting.

Also, the court declared that the lawmaker’s indefinite suspension was a misuse of the powers of the Assembly, hence null and void.

However, the court dismissed the prayer of the lawmakers to award cost.

Reacting, Akinribido who commended the court for the judgement, said he would resume his legislative duty in the Assembly next week.

With this development, all the suspended lawmakers in the House had been reinstated by the court.

Recalled that the Deputy Speaker, Mr Iroju Ogundeji and two others, Mrs Favour Tomomewo and Mr Adewale Williams who were earlier suspended by the Assembly had their suspension reversed by court .