The Deputy Governor of Ondo State, Lucky Aiyedatiwa has withdrawn the lawsuit he filed to stop his impeachment by the Ondo State House of Assembly at the Federal High Court in Abuja.
Other defendants in the suit filed by the Deputy Governor which is marked; FHC/ABJ/CS/1294/2023 are the Governor of Ondo State; Rotimi Akeredolu, the Speaker of the House of Assembly, the Chief Judge of Ondo State, the House of Assembly, the Inspector-General of Police, the Department of State Services.
The Deputy Governor’s lawyer, Mr Ebun-olu Adegboruwa (SAN) disclosed Aiyedatiwa’s withdrawal of the suit at the Monday hearing, telling the court that the deputy governor wished to withdraw the suit following the intervention of the leadership of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in the matter.
The SAN noted that the national chairman of the APC, Abdullahi Ganduje, had set up a reconciliation committee on October 6, to mediate the dispute between some of the parties to the suit.
Adegboruwa, therefore, said that going ahead with the court proceedings could frustrate the reconciliation efforts by the APC leadership.
He further noted that the Ondo State House of Assembly wrote a petition to the National Judicial Council on October 3, 2023, against the presiding judge, Justice Emeka Nwite.
He then urged the court to wait for the decision of the NJC on the petition before going ahead with the matter.
However, the counsel for the Ondo State Governor, Kazeem Gbadamosi (SAN), and that of the Chief Judge of Ondo State, Mutalib Ojo (SAN), kicked against Adegboruwa’s withdrawal of the suit, urging the court to go ahead with the case.
Speaking on it, the counsel for the Assembly, Femi Emodamori, stated that the Ondo Assembly had already withdrawn the petition against the judge.
Aiyedatiwa had in a letter through his lawyer, Adegboruwa, dated October 5, 2023, addressed to the Chief Judge of the State charged the CJ to stop the state House of Assembly from going ahead with the proceedings seeking to remove him from office.
Following this, the APC Chairman had inaugurated a committee to resolve the dispute between the Governor of Ondo state, and his embattled Deputy, Lucky Aiyedatiwa.