The deputy governor of Ondo had asked an Akure High Court to stop the house of assembly from proceeding with the impeachment move against him.
Lucky Aiyedatiwa, the Deputy Governor of Ondo State, has withdrawn the lawsuit he filed to stop his impeachment by the Ondo State House of Assembly.
The deputy governor of Ondo had asked an Akure High Court to stop the house of assembly from proceeding with the impeachment move against him.
In a suit filed at the court in September, Aiyedatiwa had asked for an order of the court to stop the state assembly from initiating, continuing or proceeding with the process of his removal from office.
However, Aiyedatiwa on Monday told the Federal High Court in Abuja of his intention to withdraw the lawsuit he filed.
Other defendants in the suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1294/2023 were the Governor of Ondo State; the Speaker of the House of Assembly, the Chief Judge of Ondo State; the House of Assembly; the Inspector-General of Police; the Department of State Services.
Aiyedatiwa’s lawyer, Mr Ebun-olu Adegboruwa (SAN), at the Monday hearing, told the court the deputy governor wished to withdraw the suit following the intervention of the leadership of the All Progressives Congress in the matter.
The National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, Abdullahi Ganduje, had set up a reconciliation committee on October 6, to mediate the dispute between some of the parties to the suit, the SAN noted.
He explained that going ahead with the court proceedings could frustrate the reconciliation efforts by the APC leadership, adding that the Ondo State House of Assembly wrote a petition to the National Judicial Council on October 3, 2023, against the presiding judge, Justice Emeka Nwite.
He urged the court to wait for the decision of the NJC on the petition before going ahead with the matter.
But counsel for the Ondo State Governor, Kazeem Gbadamosi (SAN), and that of the Chief Judge of Ondo State, Mutalib Ojo (SAN), opposed Adegboruwa and urged the court to go ahead with the case.
Meanwhile, counsel for the Assembly, Femi Emodamori, in his submission, said the Ondo Assembly had already withdrawn the petition against the judge.