It will be recalled that the governor of Oyo State was removed by a section of the Oyo State house of assembly with the support of President Obasanjo and controversial Ibadan politician, Chief Lamidi Adedibu. The governor was replaced with his deputy, Mr. Alao Akala who nominated Chief Adedibu's personal assistant, Gbolarumi as his deputy.
However, lawyers to Rasheed Ladoja could not attend the court sittings due to threats of violence from Chief Lamidi Adedibu and his supporters who had promised to unleash violence on the lawyers in case the final ruling did not favor his party.
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LADOJA REINSTATED IN OYO STATE-PM NEWS, Lagos
-by Gbenro Adesina/Ibadan, Ayo Lawal, Tokunbo Olajide, Alawode Adebobola, Tunji Adewunmi
Supporters of the impeached Governor of Oyo State, Alhaji Rasheed Adewolu Ladoja, broke into wild jubilation this morning, as the Court of Appeal sitting in Ibadan declared the impeachment process as illegal, unconstitutional, null and void.
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Reinstating the governor, the presiding Judge J.O. Ogebe ruled that if the incumbent administration led by Christopher Alao-Akala goes to Supreme Court, it would not win stressing that the process of the impeachment of Governor Ladoja was absolutely faulty.
Among the eight faulty processes were: the sitting of the legislators in an hotel rather than the State House of Assembly to deliberate on the impeachment; sending the notice of impeachment through the newspapers; impeachment carried out by 18 rather than 22 legislators; unavailability of affidavit of suspension; the time-frame of the process; and the declaration of lack of jurisdiction by the High Court, thereby declaring the process null and void.
Many lawyers hailed the ruling as a victory for democracy and a lesson to Nigerians in general.
According to Bayo Shittu, and Sanyaolu Akinyele, representing Governor Ladoja’s camp, Gov. Ladoja should be immediately reinstated as the constitutional and elected governor of Oyo state.
Shittu said, “the judgement is a judgement of a Court of Appeal and it is a full constitutional court that has decided on it. It is not just a three-man panel, it is a panel of five which is a full court of Nigeria.
“We thank God and the people of Oyo state. We thank God that at last we’ve had a nullification of the purported impeachment, and by implication, Governor Ladoja remains the Governor of Oyo State as from today till the 29th May 2007.
“Don’t let anybody harass us with going to Supreme Court. They went to Supreme Court once and they were disgraced from the Supreme Court. If they go again they’ll fail. As from today, the so-called controversial governor Akala is no longer the governor of the state. His regime is an aberration.”
Akinyele, too said: “The judgement of today is a landmark one. It is of constitutional importance to this country. Two it has gone a long way to show that we don’t have a legislature in Nigeria. It shows that the legislators are not powerful, that they are not the only one that can impeach a sitting governor, it involves the judiciary and the people”.
As at press time attempt to contact Governor Akala or any of his aides proved abortive as his lawyers left the court immediately after the ruling.
The judgement was delivered amid tight security with police armoured vehicles on guard. Many legal practitioners and journalists who got to the venue as early as 9 a.m were locked out.
Also no supporters from either side, and ordinary civilians were allowed to enter the court or even stay within the precincts of the court.
Also, the ruling caused traffic jam in GRA and Dugbe areas of Ibadan.
Meanwhile, Lagos lawyer Femi Falana has described the ruling as a triumph for the rule of law.
Falana said: “at least the reinstatement of Rasheed Ladoja clearly shows that the judicial system will be able to gain some respect.
Another lawyer, Festus Keyamo, said: “it is victory for democracy. The people can now manage democracy by following the rule of law.”
Rasheed Adewolu Ladoja was impeached on Thursday January 12, 2006 by a group of 18 legislators loyal to the strongman of Ibadan politics Alhaji Lamidi Adedibu. The impeachment resembled a military coup, as it was done with the partisan support of the Oyo state police command and the top echelon of the People’s Democratic Party. In the run up to the impeachment, PDP’s chairman, Ahmadu Ali even characterised Adedibu as the ‘’garrison commander’’ of Oyo State.
Following Ladoja’s clearly illegal impeachment, his deputy, Alao Adebayo Akala was sworn in as the state Governor.
The injustice and illegality of Ladoja removal spurred a massive protest on 23 January in Ibadan, Oyo State as thousands of people took to the streets. During the protest, the chairman of Campaign for Democracy (CD) Moshood Erubami was attacked and arrested by the police.
Ladoja who fought the impeachment process all the way in the court, swiftly challenged the impeachment.
The legal battle which was initiated by three lawmakers namely Hassan Ogundoke, Babatunde Olaniyan and Jacob Oyekunle which had suffered many hitches following the controversial withdrawal of former judge M. Bolaji Yussuf from the matter was later reopened by a Court of Appeal in Ibadan. The case was referred to the Appeal Court following a Supreme Court ruling which affirmed that Ladoja had a right to challenge his removal.
The ruling which was earlier scheduled for last Wednesday, was delivered in favour of Senator Rasheed Adewolu Ladoja today.
Lagos lawyer, Bamidele Aturu reacts:
LADOJA’S REINSTATEMENT BY COURT OF APPEAL IS VICTORY FOR THE RULE OF LAW Bamidele Aturu The decision of the Court of Appeal in Ibadan on 1st of November 2006 nullifying the charade that took place in Ibadan and reinstating the Governor, Senator Ladoja is a victory for democracy, constitutionalism, morality, decency and the rule of law. It also marks the end of judicial myopia and timidity. I feel extremely vindicated by the decision for it has confirmed my position that the Constitution does not oust the jurisdiction of our courts or tie their hands in dealing with cases that manifestly show breaches of the constitution, our grundnorm. The decision must be commended by all lovers of peace, constitutionalism and the rule of law. The court has by the judgment sent a strong signal that Nigeria will not tolerate any form of political banditry and hooliganism such as was maniacally displayed in the Ibadan impeachment saga. Every House of Assembly that wants to impeach their Governors must conform to the Constitutional procedure otherwise it will be a nullity. The court has also made it clear that it would not accept premeditated suspension of members to facilitate illegal unconstitutional and unlawful impeachments. I hope the impeachment merchants and their sponsors in Abuja, Anambra, Ekiti and Plateau states are listening to this strong and highly authoritative judicial warning. I commend the decision and indeed celebrate it and expect all serious minded Nigerians to celebrate it. My advise to the Akala group is that they should not stretch the process by filing any needless appeal at the Supreme Court. He should simply hand over and negotiate a soft landing for himself. I expect that the governor should be magnanimous by not insisting on the trial of all those who facilitated the unconstitutional usurpation of power in Oyo State.googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('comments'); });