Impeachment saga: Ondo assembly, speaker withdraw appeal against Aiyedatiwa

The court of appeal in Abuja has dismissed an appeal filed by the Ondo state house of assembly and Olamide Oladiji, speaker of the house.

The appeal had challenged a ruling stopping the removal of Lucky Aiyedatiwa from office as deputy governor of the state.

The dismissal followed an application by Remi Olatubora, counsel to the appellants, to withdraw the suit.

The state assembly had commenced impeachment proceedings against the deputy governor over allegations of abuse of office.

The assembly had also issued a directive to the chief judge to “immediately” set up a seven-man panel to investigate Aiyedatiwa.

However, Aiyedatiwa had secured an ex parte order in September, restraining the Ondo house of assembly from impeaching him.

Emeka Nwite, a federal high court judge, also restrained Rotimi Akeredolu, governor of Ondo, from nominating a new deputy.

But the speaker and the state assembly filed an appeal against the judgment of the high court.

POLITICAL SOLUTION

At the court session on Thursday, Olatubora told the court that the parties in the matter have found a political solution around the problem.

“Parties to this dispute have found political solutions to their problems,” he said.

“They have signed an Amistad agreement and on behalf of the appellants, we are here to enforce our part by withdrawing this appeal.

“The instruction to this effect was given to us by the speaker and house of assembly yesterday. We have filed an application to this effect.

“The application was dated November 29 but filed this morning. In the interest of peace, we would like to withdraw this appeal.”

The respondents in the case confirmed to the court that they had been served the process and had no objection to the withdrawal.

A three-member panel led by Haruna Tsammani subsequently dismissed the appeal.