Alhaji Ali Olanusi on Monday
described his removal by the Ondo
State House of Assembly as deputy
governor as a huge joke.
Olanusi spoke through his lawyer,
Oluwole Kayode, hours after the
Commissioner for Agriculture,
Lasisi Oluboyo, was sworn in as the
state’s new deputy governor.
Olanusi’s travails began a month
ago when he dumped the Peoples
Democratic Party for the All
Progressives Congress.
In condemning his impeachment,
he reminded the lawmakers of an
April 23 court order that the status
quo be maintained in respect of his
office.
He said, “Another action in respect
of the same office and the
impeachment process is pending in
court and will come up on May 7,
2015.
“I think public office holders and
people who are put in positions to
defend the Nigerian constitution
must be law abiding.
“In the light of this disobedience to
a court order and the impunity
displayed in the course of the
impeachment proceedings, the
deputy governor is on solid ground.
The action is illegal and a juge
joke.”
Olanusi’s impeachment followed
the submission on Monday of a
report by the seven-man panel
constituted by Chief Judge
Olasehinde Kumuyi.
After considering the report
during their sitting in Akure on
Monday, the Majority Leader of the
Assembly, Ifedayo Akinsoyinu,
moved the motion for the
impeachment of the deputy
governor.
Akinsoyinu based his motion on
the report which indicted Olanusi
of the allegations of gross
misconduct levelled against him by
the assembly.
The report read, “Having found
that all the seven allegations
established against Alhaji Olanusi,
the deputy governor of Ondo State,
and placing reliance on the
meaning of gross misconduct as
defined in Section 188 (11) of the
1999 Constitution as amended, we
hereby find that the allegation of
gross misconduct has been proved
against Alhaji Olanusi, the holder of
office of the deputy governor of
Ondo State.”
After the presentation and the
secondment of the motion, the
Speaker, Jumoke Akindele,
requested the 22 members of the
House to express their support for
or objection to the removal of the
deputy governor.
The members announced their
support through a voice vote .
Akindele consequently directed
Olanusi to hand over all
government property in his
possession to the permanent
secretary in the deputy governor’s
office.
She also asked the permanent
secretary to use all lawful means to
retrieve all the property should
Olanusi fail to release them
immediately.
The process for the impeachment
of the deputy governor lasted
barely a week with the service of
the impeachment notice on him.
Shortly after Olanusi’s
impeachment, Governor Olusegun
Mimiko sent in a letter requesting
the approval of Oluboyo as his
new deputy.
After the letter was read, Akindele
directed the Deputy Speaker, Dare
Emiola, to supervise the House
Committee on Selection to screen
the nominee.
This was quickly done with Eniola
saying that Oluboyo was
competent of being a deputy
governor.
All the lawmakers that attended
the plenary thereafter approved
the appointment of the Agriculture
commissioner as the new deputy
governor.
After this, Oluboyo went to the
Cocoa Conference Hall in the
Governor’s office where he was
sworn in as the deputy governor.
During the ceremony, Mimiko said
he hoped the synergy among the
three arms of government would
be sustained.
He congratulated the new deputy
governor, saying there was joy in
the state immediately his name
was mentioned.
Oluboyo, who pledged his loyalty
to Mimiko, said the fact that one
Akoko man disappointed should
not be seen that all Akoko people
were bad.
Olanusi’s impeachment was
however described by the state
APC as temporary.
The party said in a statement by its
Publicity Secretary, Abayomi
Adesanya, that it was laughable
that the ‘rubber-stamp’ Assembly
could impeach the deputy
governor and approve another
person in a haste.
It alleged that Mimiko, who
defected from the Labour Party to
the PDP, had turned politics in the
state into a desperate affair.
The statement read, “The
impeachment of Alhaji Olanusi as
the Deputy Governor of Ondo State
is temporary. The whole process of
the impeachment was a sham and
charade. How on earth will a deputy
governor be impeached within five
days?
“It shows that there were unholy
alliances among Governor Mimiko,
the Chief Judge, and the
governor’s stooges who call
themselves lawmakers to embark
on an illegal process to impeach a
duly elected deputy governor.
“It was clear to the people of the
state that before the directive of
the Speaker to serve Olanusi the
impeachment notice, the
embattled deputy governor was
not in the state.
“Without any court order, the
speaker directed them to paste the
notice of impeachment on the
quarters of the deputy governor,
this is unlawful.
“The Chief Judge, due to his
relationship with Mimiko because
we are aware that he was Mimiko’s
best man during his wedding, has
been assisting him to executive
illegality.
“He set up a panel that was
expected to sit for three months by
giving room for fair hearing with
the parties involved, the
investigative panel only sat for five
hours in just one day and found
Olanusi guilty of gross misconduct
without fair hearing and in
absentia. The panel is acting a
script from the governor. This is
impunity pa excellence.”
Also, the state chairman of the APC,
Isaac Kekemeke, said the
impeachment had “consolidated
Mimiko’s emperorship of the state.”
He said, “This is unacceptable, we
will challenge this unconstitutional
impeachment and lawlessness
appropriately in court.”
But the PDP in Ondo State
defended the Assembly, saying the
impeachment of Olanusi should be
seen as the verdict of the people of
the state.
The Publicity Secretary of the state
PDP , Banji Okunomo, said it was on
record that Olanusi was
represented at the sitting of the
panel by his counsel, Benson
Enikuomehin.
He said the Assembly would not
have done anything if the panel
had not found him guilty.
“The development was in tandem
with the wish of the people of the
state and this had been
demonstrated as there was no
single protest since the
commencement of the
impeachment process,” Okunomo
added.
by ROTMANLUV 2023-07-08, 17:34
