The Deputy Governor of Oyo State, Rauf Olaniyan, has dragged the state House of Assembly to court over matters that border his being petitioned by the lawmakers. Justice Ladiran Akintola of the Oyo State High Court had on Tuesday adjourned the suit till Wednesday.
Olaniyan had, through his lawyer, Chief Afolabi Fashanu, SAN, on Tuesday, asked the court to order that the Speaker of the Assembly, Adebo Ogundoyin, and the Clerk, Mrs. Oludara Yetunde Awe, be put on notice of the suit.
Reports state that they adjourned the case because of a non-legal appearance from the Assembly, which caused the request that the duo of the Speaker and the Clerk be ordered to be served.
At the time of filing this report, it remains unclear if the Assembly, through the Clerk or the Speaker, had been served the notice.
Efforts to confirm the development from the Assembly yielded no result as the House Spokesperson, Hon Kazeem Olayanju, phone lines were not connecting, and messages sent to his WhatsApp line were not replied to at the time of filing the report.
However, a source close to the Deputy Governor acknowledged that impeachment is a House of Assembly matter but that if the process is faulty, the court could intervene.
The source said the Deputy Governor is more concerned about the appropriateness of the process and, therefore, would be seeking the intervention of the court to prevent a situation whereby the process would be stopped due to an unconstitutional process involved.
Meanwhile, barring last-minute changes, the lawmakers may continue the impeachment process on Wednesday by presenting the response sent in by the Deputy Governor to the House, as the House had previously adjourned to reconvene on Wednesday.
Twenty-three members of the Assembly had petitioned the Deputy Governor on a five-ground allegation that bordered on misconduct, financial recklessness, and insubordination, among others.
It was also gathered that Olaniyan had sent in his response three days before the expiration of the Assembly’s seven-day ultimatum.
Olaniyan had recently announced his defection from the state’s ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) to the opposition, the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Another source said Olaniyan’s dragging the Assembly to court could be to prevent the process of impeachment, which he described as “faulty,” from being hastily concluded.
A source further hinted that at the time of filing this report, Olaniyan’s legal team had filed processes at the High Court to stop the lawmakers from going ahead.
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