Oyo State House of Assembly impeaches deputy governor after he defects to APC

MEMBERS of the Oyo State House o9f Assembly have impeached deputy governor Rauf Olaniyan this morning after adopting the report of the seven-man panel constituted to investigate allegations of gross misconduct against him.

An engineer by profession, Mr Olaniyan was elected in 2019 on a joint ticket with Governor Seyi Makinde on the platform of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP). However, recently, he defected to the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state, leading to him falling out with his boss and the house of assembly.

In a statement read out by the majority leader of the Oyo State House of Assembly, Hon Sanjo Adedoyin, the deputy governor was found culpable and indicted of all allegations and complaints levelled against him. Consequently, the Assembly approved Mr Olaniyan’s removal from office leaning on section 188(9) of the 1999 constitution (as amended).

At around 11.30am this morning, Mr Olaniyan was impeached by the members of the assembly, which is dominated by the PDP. On June 28, Mr Olaniyan dragged the assembly to court over the impeachment move in a suit filed by his counsel, Chief Afolabi Fashanu.

When the case came up before Justice Ladiran Akintola at the Oyo State High Court, Ibadan, the judge ordered that the speaker of the assembly, Hon Adebo Ogundoyin and the clerk of the House be put on notice before he adjourned the matter to June 29. However, on July 6, despite the order by the court restraining the assembly from going ahead with the impeachment process, the Oyo State chief judge was ordered to set up a seven-man panel to investigate the allegation of gross misconduct against the deputy governor.

In a judgment delivered on July 14, Justice Akintola held that the impeachment move initiated by the lawmakers had not violate the constitution in any way and he thus dismissed the suit. According to court, the lawmakers substantially complied with the provisions of Section 188 of the constitution on the removal process, so it gave them the go-ahead to continue with the impeachment process.