Ondo State, Nigeria, October 18, 2023 – The Ondo State House of Assembly has called upon Deputy Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa to withdraw all court cases related to his impeachment process as part of a condition for resolving the matter. The Assembly has temporarily suspended the impeachment proceedings against the embattled deputy governor following the intervention of the national leadership of the party.
In a statement issued by the Chairman of the House Committee on Information, Mr. Olatunji Oshati, the Assembly clarified that it was acting in accordance with Section 188 of the Constitution after receiving a petition alleging gross misconduct and abuse of office by the deputy governor.
The statement revealed that the Speaker expressed a willingness to engage in further consultations with House members across party lines regarding the proposed political solution by the APC. The Assembly hopes that Aiyedatiwa will promptly withdraw the multiple court cases filed over the same impeachment, enabling stakeholders to discuss settlement proposals without interference due to the matter being sub judice.
The suspension of the impeachment process came after a meeting between the National Chairman of the APC, Abdullahi Ganduje, the National Reconciliation Committee, the Speaker of the Ondo Assembly, Mr. Olamide Oladiji, some APC lawmakers, and the leadership of the APC in Ondo State. They reached a consensus to halt the impeachment.
In a separate development, the Ondo State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) criticized Dr. Doyin Odebowale, an aide to Governor Rotimi Akeredolu, for his remarks on the governor’s whereabouts. Odebowale had stated that the PDP had no right to inquire about the governor’s location and attributed his delay in returning to his earlier two-bedroom apartment at the state Government House as one of the reasons for the governor’s absence.
The PDP’s Publicity Secretary, Mr. Kennedy Peretei, responded by highlighting the importance of Governor Akeredolu’s presence in the state. Peretei criticized Odebowale’s comments and emphasized the necessity of accountability from a governor who has been absent for over six months.