Fayose: Going, going…? G19 orders CJ to set up panel

Determined to unseat the Ekiti State governor, Ayodele Fayose, the embattled 19 APC members of the state’s House of Assembly on Thursday directed the state’s Chief Judge to immediately set up a committee to investigate Fayose, and his deputy Ojo Eleka on allegations of gross misconduct.

The impeachment proceedings is being carried out by the Assembly faction under the leadership of Speaker Wale Omirin, who has in the meantime, told a Federal High Court in Lagos that he is no longer interested in pursuing a suit he filed to challenge his impeachment on November 20 last year.

Omirin and his deputy, Adetunji Orisalade, had filed the suit numbered FHC/L/CS/1823/14 before Justice Saliu Saidu following their impeachment by seven members of the Ekiti House of Assembly belonging to the PDP.

The notice of discontinuance, which came after the lawmakers returned to the state and served an impeachment notice on the state Governor Ayodele Fayose, after fleeing for months, simply read, “Take notice that the plaintiffs doth hereby wholly discontinue Suit No. FHC/L/CS/1823/14 against all the defendants.”

The suit had been bogged with a lot of adjournments due to the difficulty to serve the court papers on Fayose and the other defendants since last year that it commenced.

The plaintiffs had been asking the court to invalidate the impeachment of Omirin and Orisalade and restore their paraphernalia of offices and other benefits to them. They also prayed for an order barring Fayose from interring in the affairs of the House and asked the court to invalidate the appointment of the three commissioners ratified under Olugbemi.

It was learnt that the move to withdraw the suit followed the advice by Fayose that having filed a suit challenging their impeachment, Omirin and Orisalade should await the decision of the court before resuming to the house as Speaker and deputy Speaker, or serve any impeachment notice on him.

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