Ondo Assembly Petitions NJC Against Justice Nwite For Halting Aiyedatiwa’s Impeachment

The Ondo State House of Assembly has asked the National Judicial Council (NJC) to sanction Justice Emeka Nwite of the Federal High Court in Abuja, for granting an ex-parte order stopping the impeachment of the State Deputy Governor, Lucky Aiyedatiwa.

In a petition filed on Tuesday, the Assembly described the ex-parte order granted by the judge restraining the parliament from impeaching Aiyedatiwa as “unconstitutional and clearly malevolent”.

The Speaker, Olamide Oladiji, who signed the petition addressed to the NJC, accused Justice Nwite of allegedly compromising his office and violating the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

The petition reads, “As the Speaker of the 10th Ondo State House of Assembly, and on behalf of the entire members of the House of Assembly (hereinafter referred to as “ODHA”), I write your lordship to formally lodge a complaint against Hon. Justice Emeka Nwite of the Abuja Judicial Division of the Federal High Court, for compromising his office and violating the extant provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended), ignoring judicial decisions of the appellate courts and extant Practice Directions and/or relevant Circulars of the Federal High Court, to grant an unconstitutional, clearly malevolent, and ostensibly procured ex parte order on 26th September, 2023 in Suit FHC/ABJ/CS/1294/2023 restraining ODHA as an arm of government from exercising its constitutional powers.”

According to the petition, Oladiji recalled that on September 2023, eleven members of the Assembly presented a notice of allegations of gross misconduct against Aiyedatiwa to him as the Speaker.

He added that the action of the state lawmakers was in line with Section 188 (2) (a) & (b) of the Constitution, noting that the gross misconduct contained 14 allegations, many of which relate to alleged financial improprieties running into hundreds of millions of Naira.

The House resolved that Justice Nwite should be investigated for “abuse of ex parte injunction and/or his office to gratify the Ondo State Deputy-Governor, and if found liable, the National Judicial Council should mete out the appropriate sanction against him as required by the dictates of judicial fidelity and the protection of the rule of law and our nascent democracy”.