Fayose: Court adjourns for ruling on anti-impeachment suit

The Abuja Division of the Federal High Court has adjourned till today to decide whether or not it has the jurisdiction to stop 19 Ekiti State Lawmakers belonging to All Progressives Congress, APC, from impeaching the Governor, Mr. Ayodele Fayose.

Justice Evoh Chukwu slated ruling on the matter on a day seven members of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in the Ekiti  State House of Assembly, prayed the court to abort a subterranean plot by their APC counterparts to remove Governor Fayose despite the pendency of the suit.

Ayo Fayose

The nine PDP lawmakers- Dele Olugbemi Joseph,  Ajibola Samuel Oyedele, Israel Olowo, Hon. Alex Ade Ojo, Adeyinka Adeloye,  Adunni Modupe Olayinka and Ayoka Fatunmbi, who are the plaintiffs in the matter, insisted that the high court has the jurisdiction to entertain their case.

Addressing the court yesterday through their ‎lawyer Mr. Ahmed Raji, SAN, the plaintiffs prayed Justice Chukwu to either assume jurisdiction on the matter and stop the APC lawmakers, or transfer the substantive suit to Ekiti state.

‎However, the Speaker of the Ekiti State House of Assembly, Mr Adewale Omirin, yesterday, reiterated his call for Justice Chukwu to hands-off the anti-impeachment suit.

Omirin, through his own lawyer, Terence Vembe, argued that the suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/3612015‎ was not only incompetent, but equally amounts to a gross abuse of the judicial process.

Aside Omirin who is the 2nd defendant in the matter, the ‎Inspector General of Police, the Ekiti State House of Assembly itself, and 20 others were also joined as defendants.

‎Since the matter was filed only Omirin and the Clerk of the Ekiti State House of Assembly (the 21st defendant) has entered appearance before the court.

Meantime, while challenging the competence of the suit vide a preliminary objection, Omirin, argued that the FHC in Abuja lacks the territorial jurisdiction to adjudicate on an issue that pertains to the desirability or otherwise of Governor Fayose to remain in office as the governor of Ekiti state.

He equally contended that the provisions of section 97 of Sheriffs and Civil Processes Act, made it mandatory that the plaintiffs ought to firstly secure the leave of the Court before filing the suit out of jurisdiction.

The Speaker stressed that neither himself nor his other APC brothers in the Ekiti State House of Assembly are bound to comply with any order from a court that ab-intio has no jurisdiction to entertain the primary case.

After listening to all the parties yesterday, Justice Chukwu fixed today to rule on the matter.

It will be recalled that the high court had on April 23, 2015, ordered Omirin and the other 22 defendants in the suit to appear before him to show cause why the impeachment moves against governor Fayose ‎and his deputy, Mr. Kolapo Olusola, should not be aborted.

‎Though the plaintiffs’  lawyer,  Raji (SAN), urged the court to go ahead and issue an order restraining the APC lawmakers from taking further steps with regards to the moves to impeach Fayose, the court declined, saying it would hear and determine Omirin’s preliminary objection first.

Nevertheless, Justice Chukwu directed all the parties to maintain ‎the status quo ante bellum, as at 23 April, 2014, pending the hearing and determination of the motion on notice.

Fayose and his deputy had earlier withdrawn a similar suit that they lodged against the APC lawmakers ‎before the same court.

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