A Federal High Court in Lagos has further adjourned till March 10, 2015 the case of the Speaker of the Ekiti State House of Assembly, Adewale Omirin, against the Dele Olugbemi-led Ekiti House of Assembly faction, Governor Ayodele Fayose and 12 others.
Omirin and his deputy, Adetunji Orisalade, had filed the suit contending their purported impeachment on November 20, 2014, by seven members of the House, belonging to the Peoples Democratic Party.
On December 10, 2014, the plaintiffs sought an interim injunction restraining the Ekiti State House of Assembly, under the leadership of Olugbemi, from carrying on with legislative functions in the state pending the determination of their substantive suit filed before Justice Saliu Saidu.
They also prayed the judge to restrain Fayose from dealing with the three commissioners cleared for appointment under the speakership of Olugbemi.
But rather than grant the interim orders restraining the defendants, Saidu granted leave to the plaintiffs to serve their processes on the defendants.
At the resumed hearing of the case on Monday, counsel for the plaintiffs, Mr. Norrison Quakers (SAN), however, told the court that the plaintiffs had been experiencing difficulty in effecting the service of the court papers on the defendants as directed by the court.
Quakers had then suggested that the court should make the defendants’ counsel to accept the service of the court papers on behalf of their clients.
But the defendants’ counsel, E.O. Afolayan, holding the brief of Dele Adesina (SAN), opposed the suggestion, insisting that the processes must be personally served on the defendants as ordered by the court.
Consequently, Quakers sought for an adjournment, following which Saidu further adjourned the matter till March 10, 2015, for mention.
Omirin and Orisalade are seeking a declaration of the court that their sacking by the seven members of the House, belonging to the PDP, was unconstitutional.
They sued along with the 17 other All Progressives Congress members of the Ekiti legislature.
Joined as defendants along with Olugbemi and Fayose are Olugbemi’s deputy in the Ekiti State House of Assembly, Olayinka Abeni; the Commissioner of Police in Ekiti, the Inspector General of Police and the Department of State Service.
Also listed as defendants are the three commissioners cleared by the House under Olugbemi’s leadership: Owoseni Ajayi (Attorney-General), Kayode Eso (Commissioner for Works) and Toyin Ojo (Commissioner for Finance).
Other defendants are the PDP lawmakers in the House: Samuel Ajibola, Adeojo Alexander, Adeloye Adeyinka, Isreal Ajiboye, Fatunbi Olajide.
In the application, Omirin and others asked Saidu to restrain Olugbemi and Abeni from parading themselves or from acting as the Speaker and Deputy Speaker respectively of the House.
They also prayed the court to restrain Fayose and his agents “from generally interfering in any manner with the plaintiffs’ legislative functions” in the House as legitimate lawmakers.
They asked the court to order the defendants to give them unfettered access to their offices and legislative quarters so that they could carry on with their constitutionally bestowed duties.
They prayed for the restoration of their “rights, privileges and paraphernalia of their respective offices in accordance with their constitutional rights and mandate.”
They asked the court to particularly stop Fayose from “recognising, dealing, associating or relating with or assigning duties or responsibilities that would validate the illegal assumption of duties of the 12th, 13th and 14th defendants as competent commissioners of Ekiti State Government.”
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