Justice Catherine Ogunsanya of the Ogun State High Court sitting in Ijebu Ode yesterday ruled that the impeachment of Hon. Wale Adedayo as Chairman of Ijebu East Local Government was null and void.

The court, in suit number HCJ/53/2025 (Hon. Wale Adedayo v The Governor of Ogun State & 2 Ors), also dismissed Adedayo’s claim, alleging that Governor Dapo Abiodun orchestrated his suspension and therefore sued him as the 1st defendant.

Adedayo was recalled to have been impeached by seven councillors of the local government in September 2023 over allegations of financial misappropriation and diversion of council funds.

His impeachment followed a letter he wrote alleging that the Ogun State Government was not remitting federal allocations to the local governments in the state.

The decision of the councillors was later challenged in court by Adedayo through his lawyers, CitiPoint Chambers, represented in court by Barrister Tesleem Adewuyi.

The judge, in her ruling, also ordered the Ijebu East Local Government to pay the sum of thirty million naira (N30m) as damages to the claimant, Adedayo, in addition to his full entitlements as a former local government chairman.

While dismissing all his claims against the governor, the court held that the local government is a separate entity distinct from the governor. Similarly, the laws that created the local government gave it a legal personality with the capacity to sue and be sued in its own name.

The claimant contended that the Secretary to the State Government (SSG) wrote a petition against him to the Commissioner of Police, upon which a criminal charge was preferred against him. He further contended that it was the governor who directed the SSG to write the petition because of political differences he had with the governor.

The court, however, could not find any nexus between this petition and the alleged political differences. The learned judge agreed with the argument of the 1st defendant, through his counsel Adekunle Manual (Assistant Director, Civil Litigations), who appeared with P.M. Sebiomo, that there was no convincing evidence to suggest that the governor was behind the petition or that such a petition was written due to the claimant’s alleged political differences.

The court equally found that, since the local government and its legislative council were separate from the governor, the governor could not be held responsible for their actions or inactions.

The court referred to the provisions of the Local Government Law of Ogun State, noting that only the governor could suspend the claimant for a period of three months, a step the governor never took. In the final analysis, the judge noted that, since the tenure of the claimant had lapsed, he could not be restored to his office, even though the steps taken towards his removal were illegal, null and void.

Furthermore, he did not make any claim for his salary since his suspension.

Thus, the court cannot make any order for their payment.

However, the court granted general damages in the sum of thirty million naira to the claimant.