Suspended Ondo State House of Assembly members win in Appeal Court

The Court of Appeal in Akure on Wednesday has dismissed the stay of execution suit filed by the Ondo state House of Assembly against the judgement of the High Court nullifying the suspension of four lawmakers of the leadership of the house.

The lawmakers were suspended indefinitely over allegations of misconduct.

The affected lawmakers are the deputy speaker, Iroju Ogundeji; Tomide Akinribido; Favour Tomomewo; and Wale Williams.

But the high court had set aside the suspension, ruling that such suspension could not exceed one legislative day.

The leadership of the assembly, not satisfied with the judgment, proceeded on appeal.

Presiding Appeal Court justice, Folayemi Omoleye, while delivering the ruling, chided the appellants for bringing a “frivolous” suit before the court.

He consequently directed the Ondo State House of Assembly to urgently obey the order reinstating the lawmakers.

The appellants were represented by Cyril Akinrinsola, the permanent secretary of the Ministry of Justice and Solicitor-General of Ondo State.

The judge said the lawmakers should be allowed to resume their legislative functions without any hindrance.

The lawmakers were suspended in the wake of the conflict between the governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu and his deputy, Agboola Ajayi, over the latter’s governorship ambition.

Mr Ajayi had defected to the PDP to seek the ticket to contest the October 10 election.

He later moved to the Zenith Labour Party after losing out at the PDP primaries. He contested the election but lost, trailing the APC and the PDP in third place.

In a bid to punish Mr Ajayi for his defection, the house attempted to impeach him, but some of the lawmakers, including those suspended, refused to sign up to it, leading to the failure of the impeachment proceedings.

Mr Ogundeji recently took to his Facebook page to vent his frustration on the house’s refusal to pay his salary of six months despite the court order.

The House had responded that he would not be paid until the matter in court was fully dispensed with.