Thursday, 28th March 2024
To guardian.ng
Search
Breaking News:
News  

Ekiti court dismisses ex-government Fayemi’s suit to stop probe

By Ayodele Afolabi, Ado-Ekiti
07 December 2017   |   3:47 am
A high court in Ado-Ekiti, yesterday dismissed a suit filed by former Governor Kayode Fayemi seeking the disbandment of the Judicial Commission of enquiry probing alleged misappropriation of funds by his administration between 2010 and 2014.

The Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Kayode Fayemi

A high court in Ado-Ekiti, yesterday dismissed a suit filed by former Governor Kayode Fayemi seeking the disbandment of the Judicial Commission of enquiry probing alleged misappropriation of funds by his administration between 2010 and 2014.

Justice Lekan Ogunmoye, who delivered the judgment, said Governor Ayodele Fayose acted in accordance with Section 2 (1) of the Commission of Inquiry Law Cap C10 Laws of Ekiti State.

The judge held that the governor does not need to consult the House of Assembly or anyone before setting up a commission of inquiry and that the state lawmakers had no right to direct the governor to set up a probe panel.

He added that the state Assembly overstepped its bounds in some sections of the law that established it to summon persons or institutions over financial impropriety.He, however, dismissed the reliefs brought by Fayemi on the grounds that they were not enough to nullify the composition of the judicial commission of enquiry set up to probe his reign.

Fayose had in May, this year, constituted a judicial panel, led by a former acting chief judge of the state, Justice Silas Oyewole, to probe Fayemi’s administration between October 2010 and October 2014 over alleged financial misdeeds.

Fayemi, who is Minister of Steel and Minerals Development, had filing a suit No HAD/57/2017, seeking an injunction to restrain the state government from carrying the probe.He had alleged that all the members of the panel were Fayose’s loyalists, adding that there was no way the panel would be fair to him.

Reacting to the ruling, Fayemi’s counsel, Akingbade Ogunmoyela, said the court agreed that the state House of Assembly has no right to direct the governor to set up a probe panel.He, however, declined comments on whether or not his client would appeal the judgment.

In his reaction, counsel to the state government, Sunday Ashana said he was happy with the judgment, as the court established that Fayose has every right to set up the commission.

He said that the state government acted in accordance with the law that set up the commission.The commission had since begun sitting and has summoned several witnesses including Coscharis Motors and some civil servants who served under the Fayemi administration.

In this article

0 Comments