Ondo Speaker Hon Olamide Oladiji has dragged Justice Emeka Nwite before the National Judicial Council (NJC) over the ex-parte motion granted to Deputy Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa.
Justice Nwite, on September 26, restrained the Assembly from impeaching Aiyedatiwa.
But the Speaker described the ex-parte granted Aiyedatiwa as “unconstitutional and clearly malevolent.
Speaker Oladiji, in the petition accused Justice Nwite of compromising his office and violating the country’s constitution.
Oladiji said impeachment was a purely a legislative affair.
He called for Justice Nwite to be investigated for “abuse of ex parte injunction and/or his office to gratify the Ondo State Deputy-Governor, and if found liable, the National Judicial Council should mete out the appropriate sanction against him as required by the dictates of judicial fidelity and the protection of the rule of law and our nascent democracy.”
According to the petition, “As the Speaker of the 10th Ondo State House of Assembly, and on behalf of the entire members of the House of Assembly (hereinafter referred to as “ODHA”), I write your lordship to formally lodge a complaint against Hon.
Justice Emeka Nwite of the Abuja Judicial Division of the Federal High Court, for compromising his office and violating the extant provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended), ignoring judicial decisions of the appellate courts and extant Practice Directions and/or relevant Circulars of the Federal High Court, to grant an unconstitutional, clearly malevolent, and ostensibly procured ex parte order on 26th September, 2023 in Suit FHC/ABJ/CS/1294/2023 restraining ODHA as an arm of government from exercising its constitutional powers.
“On September 2023, Eleven (11) members of the Ondo State Assembly presented a notice of allegation(s) of gross misconduct (impeachment notice) against the Deputy-Governor of Ondo State, His Excellency, Hon. Lucky Orimisan Aiyedatiwa to me as the Speaker, in line with Section 188(2) (a) & (b) of the Constitution.
“As your lordship would observe, annexure ODHA contains 14 allegations, many of which relate to alleged financial improprieties running into hundreds of millions of naira.”
“Section 188 (10) of the Constitution clearly provides that: “No proceedings or determination of the House of Assembly or an Impeachment Panel or any matter relating to such proceedings or
determination shall be entertained or questioned in any court.”
“However, in spite of the above provisions of the Constitution, the
Deputy-Governor approached Justice Emeka Nwite with an ex parte application on 21st September, 2023, to procure an order to stop the legislative process of his impeachment.
“My lord, as a Judge of the Federal High Court, Hon. Justice Emeka Nwite knows or ought to know that there are extant Circulars and Practice Directions prohibiting Federal High Court Judges from granting ex parte injunctions in political cases and/or taking cases that did not originate from their immediate Judicial Divisions.”
Credit: Nation
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