The 2023 governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Oyo State, Sen. Teslim Folarin, has described the impeachment of Deputy Governor Rauf Olaniyan by the House of Assembly as unlawful.
He said the move contradicted respect for rule of law.
Folarin asked the National Judicial Council (NJC) to sanction the Chief Judge, Justice Munta Abimbola, for breaching oath of his office by ignoring service of notice of appeal and application for injunction pending appeal when he proceeded to constitute an investigation committee that investigated Olaniyan.
A statement by Folarin said the committee set up by the chief judge to investigate the deputy governor lacked integrity.
He said APC would not relent in providing alternative to unruly and undemocratic acts of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)-led administration in the state.
Folarin said despite the intervention of the legal adviser to the deputy governor that he needed time to prepare himself for the allegations levelled against him, the chief judge set up a committee to carry out his bidding.
He, however, said the “illegal impeachment” did not stop the Court of Appeal and by extension the Supreme Court to do their job in days to come.
Olaniyan’s counsel, Chief Afolabi Fashanu, accused Justice Abimbola of breaching his oath of office by ignoring the service of notice of appeal and application for injunction pending appeal when he proceeded to constitute an investigation committee.
Fashanu, who described the committee set up by the CJ as a charade that could not stand the test of time, said the move was against established law and practice.
He also accused members of the panel of being appointed and paid to do what he described as “bodge and botched jobs”, saying the effort was contrary to good conscience.
Story By
Segun Showunmi and Yinka Adeniran, Ibadan