Politics

Lawyers, Ex-lawmakers Disagree Over Ondo Deputy Gov’s Impeachment Plot

Published

2 years ago

September 28, 2023

…Aiyedatiwa abusing court process —Lawyers

Some lawyers, including Messrs Jiti Ogunye and Femi Emodamori, and former lawmakers from Ondo State, yesterday, disagreed over the move to impeach the embattled Deputy Governor of the state, Mr. Lucky Aiyedatiwa, who has been accused of alleged gross misconduct.

While Ogunye and Emodamori accused the deputy governor of attempting to stop his impeachment through an interim order, the former lawmakers warned the Assembly members against heating the polity by impeaching Aiyedatiwa.

Ogunye, who was featured on a television programme, said that Aiyedatiwa was wrong to have approached the court, when the process had not been completed.

He said: “The issue of principle here is that there is a route, under Section 188 of the Constitution, which says that ‘seven days you should receive a notice served by the Speaker on the holder of the office, be it governor or deputy governor’.

“Within 14 days, a vote is taken and, if two-third passes the matter, it goes to the Chief Judge of the state within seven days and then a panel is set up within three months and the report comes in.

“After the report comes in, if the report says no misconduct has been committed, the matter ends there. If it says misconduct is proven then the person is impeached.

“That’s the process. And so, if at the tail-end the process is not followed, the holder of the office has recourse to have him restored to power.

“The second one is the federalist principle which is very dear to me. You are a deputy governor of a state, you have a state high court, you are suing everybody in that state including the Chief Judge of that state, and you are taking them to a Federal Government court. That offends my federalist principle.”

Also throwing his weight behind Ogunye, the counsel to the House of Assembly, Femi Emodamori, argued that if the lawmakers clearly and meticulously follow Section 188 (1-9), no court, as stipulated in Section 10, has the power to intervene.

Emodamori said: ”It is only when there are pure breaches of the law that the court may intervene. Now, the deputy governor hasn’t even been served, the notice was initiated by eleven members of the House, more than one-third required, and he didn’t wait to be served.

“He’s alleging violation of his right to a fair hearing that he’s not been served. That it’s within social media even when Section 188 says he should be served within seven days and it’s not yet seven days.

“Rushing to court even before the panel is constituted is an abuse of judicial process. He doesn’t have a fundamental human right to protect at that stage. The body to hear him is the panel to be constituted by the Chief Judge. Until the body begins work, how do you complain about the violation to a fair hearing?”

Assembly endorsing bad precedence—Ex-lawmakers

On their part, the former lawmakers in the state, who addressed newsmen in Akure, urged the Ondo Assembly to preserve the sanctity and integrity of the assembly.

Speaking on behalf of the lawmakers, Abiodun Jerome said: “The present House of Assembly is less than four months old, and it’s very unfortunate that impeachment proceeding is their priority amongst the myriad of critical issues confronting our state presently.

“We want to unequivocally state here that the House must be careful not to dare the wrath of the people by heating the polity.

“The Assembly must be very careful from turning themselves into a puppet in the hands of some desperate politicians.

“It is on this note that we challenge the present Assembly not to endorse a bad precedence by going ahead with this planned impeachment of the Deputy Governor.

“As critical stakeholders in Ondo State, we consider it incumbent that we do not fold our arms and watch our political labour and those of our pathfinders washed away by the interest of a clique within our political system.”

VANGUARD

Politics

Obasanjo, Atiku, Obi Meet In Abuja

Published

1 hour ago

January 10, 2026

Editor

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and former Anambra State Governor Peter Obi met in Abuja on Saturday.

The trio were among prominent political figures who attended the Tambuwal Colloquium, titled “Leadership, Service and Statesmanship at 60,” held at the New Event Hall of the Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja, in honour of the 60th birthday of former Sokoto State Governor and Senator, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal.

Atiku confirmed his presence at the event in a post on his X handle, stating that he had arrived at the venue for the colloquium organised to mark Tambuwal’s milestone birthday.

The former vice president also shared images of himself, Obasanjo and Obi at the event.

The event attracted political leaders, statesmen and stakeholders from across the country.

Politics

PANDEF Wades Into Rivers Crisis, Sets Up Seven-member Mediation Team

Published

7 hours ago

January 10, 2026

Editor

The Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF) has intervened in the political crisis in Rivers State, calling on all actors to sheathe their swords and embrace peace in the interest of the development of the state and the region in general.

Expressing concern that the political disagreement involving the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister, Mr Nyesom Wike, Governor Siminalayi Fubara and the State House of Assembly might degenerate to total lawlessness, the Board and National Executive Committee of PANDEF set up a seven-member reconciliation team to resolve the issues.

The team, which is headed by a former Attorney-General of the Federation, Chief Kanu Agabi, has six other members.

They are Senator Obende Domingo (Vice Chairman); Chief Essien Nduese; Dr Timiebi Koripamo-Agari; Chief Mike Ejiofor; Mrs Nella Rabana-Andem, SAN; and Prince Godwin Okotie, the Deputy National Secretary of PANDEF, who will serve as the secretary of the team.

Politics

Wike: Why Removing Fubara Will Be Difficult – Ex-Commissioner

Published

1 day ago

January 9, 2026

Editor

A former Rivers State Commissioner for Information and Communication, Austin Tam-George, has said that attempts to impeach Governor Siminalayi Fubara would be difficult to sustain, citing what he described as the governor’s performance record and the lack of concrete allegations against him.

Tam-George made the remarks on Thursday while speaking on Prime Time on Arise Television, arguing that the impeachment process being initiated against Fubara was to scuttle his chance for a second term.

According to him, Governor Fubara has continued to place the needs of the people at the centre of his administration, with visible interventions in rural development, housing, education and healthcare.

He said this, in his view, has made it difficult for opponents to justify moves to remove the governor from office.

Tam-George also called on the All Progressives Congress, APC, to intervene, arguing that the party should not allow what he described as the humiliation of a sitting governor.

He said: “Well, all I think he needs to do is to do exactly what he’s been doing from the beginning, which is to place the people at the center of gravity of his administration, prioritize the needs of the people, so that the people can see the direct impact of government action in their lives.

“And that’s exactly what he’s doing in terms of rural development, in terms of housing sector transformation, which I mentioned that he is doing the same in education sector and in health.

“So if he continues, if he persists in placing the people’s need at the center of focus of his administration, there is no way they are going to be able to justify this kind of shenanigans.

“Because, if you look very carefully at the so called articles of impeachment, you will see that there is no specificity in terms of any infraction by the governor or his deputy.

“What they are trying to do is to make sure they scuttle the administration so that the governor doesn’t then get to the point where he will be seeking a second term.

“Let me be clear, just two days ago, Nyesom Wike was at one of the local governments, and he made it clear in a moment of epiphany, he made it clear that, look, if Governor Fubara were to get a second term in office, it will amount to his own political burial.

“So all of these things that we are seeing the so called impeachment proceedings they’ve initiated, it’s actually an effort to try to scuttle the prospects of the governor coming for a second term, and I don’t see how they will succeed.

“If you look at the so called articles of impeachment, as I said, they lack specificity in terms of the kind of infraction that they allege that the governor has committed. He has done nothing wrong, and they will see how the process will play out.

“My sense, and in fact, if I were to advise the governor, my sense is that he should just maintain the people, retain the people at the center of gravity of his administration, meet their needs, run a transparent administration as he always done, and then the truth will come out, and he will be able to defend the administration.

“I think the the governing APC should also step in because they can’t possibly allow the governor of the office with probably one of the best performance records in the country to be humiliated by some of these members of the assembly.”