Ondo dep gov asks CJ to ignore assembly’s request for probe panel against him

Lucky Aiyedatiwa, the deputy governor of Ondo State, has urged the state chief judge, Justice Olusola Odunsola, to ignore the request of the state house of assembly to set up a seven-man investigation panel to probe the allegations of gross misconduct levelled against him. 

Mr Aiyedatiwa’s request was contained in a seven-page letter written by his lead counsel, Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa, submitted to the chief judge in Akure, the state capital, Tuesday.

Daily Trust had on Monday reported that the house of assembly wrote the state chief judge instructing him to constitute a seven-man panel to probe Mr Aiyedatiwa, claiming that the orders of injunction granted by the Federal High Court, Abuja, had expired.

However, in his letter to the state chief judge, the deputy governor said the position of the assembly was based on conjectures, misconceptions, inconsistencies, undue desperation, and misconstruction of the law.

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He argued that the orders granted by the Federal High Court, Abuja, on September 26, 2023, were still in force and remained valid and subsisting, contrary to the conclusion of the assembly that the said orders had expired by operation of law.

Dwelling on Order 26 Rule 10 (2) and (3) of the Federal High Court Rules 2019, the deputy governor argued that the court in Abuja had been given wide discretion to determine the nature, status and duration of any order granted and “in this case, the court directed that the orders granted on 26th September 2023 should last till the hearing and determination of the motion on notice for interlocutory injunction, which is still pending before the court.”

He stated in his letter that based on the two proceedings of the Federal High Court, Abuja, of October 9 and 16, 2023, the court has not set aside the pending orders and the order cannot be extinguished by the application to set it aside since it was combined with the hearing of the substantive suit.