Ekiti impeachment saga: Court fixes April 29 for hearing

The Federal High Court sitting Abuja on Thursday fixed April 29 for the hearing of the suit seeking to stop All Progressives Congress (APC) members of the Ekiti State House of Assembly from impeaching Governor Ayodele Fayose and his deputy, Kolapo Olusola.
The trial judge, Justice A.R Mohammed, however, warned parties in the suit to steer clear of any action that can cause trouble or chaos in the state.
The plaintiffs, Speaker of the House of Assembly (described as being occupied by the Peoples Democratic Party factional Speaker, Olugbemi Joseph Dele); Ekiti State House of Assembly, Fayose and Olusola, through their counsel, Ahmed Raji (SAN) had approached the court via a motion ex-parte seeking to halt impeachment moves against the governor.
‎At the last adjourned date, the court ordered defendants in the suit, the APC factional Speaker of the House of ‎Assembly, Adewale Omirin, and the Chief Judge of the state, Justice Ayodeji Daramola, to appear before it and show cause why the plaintiffs’ request should not be granted.
When the matter came up on Thursday, plaintiffs’ counsel informed the court that the defendants have not yet filed any process.
Responding, defendants’ counsel, Terence Venber, drew the attention of the court that they were served last Saturday which was an election day and hence, they are still within time of the provision of the three days given by the rule of court for them to respond.
Giving a short ruling, the court noted that since April 11 was an election day, it would be deemed to be a public holiday and the service of the process will take effect from the next working day, from which the three days provided by the court rule will start counting.
It was on that note that court adjourned to enable the defendants file and serve their response.
Apart from Omirin and Justice Daramola, other defendants in the suit are the Inspector General of Police, Mr. Suleiman Abba, and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
‎In the ex-parte application, the plaintiffs had urged the court to grant the interim injunction setting aside the impeachment notice already served on the governor and the deputy and also restraining the defendants from taking any further steps in the impeachment moves.
They also argued that the act by Omirin to issue an impeachment notice and serve same on the governor and the deputy governor as Speaker of the House of Assembly amounted to ‎impersonating the incumbent Speaker.
The plaintiffs also urged the court to grant the prayers and make the interim injunctions to subsist, pending the determination of their motion on notice for interlocutory injunctions seeking the same set of prayers.
Raji urged the court to grant the prayers “in the interest of justice, public order, peace and safety of the people of the state”.
‎However, the judge in his ruling the, rather than granting the interim injunctions ordered the parties to appear in court to convince the court why the plaintiffs’ prayers for interim injunction should not be granted.
According to the judge, “The order is hereby made directing the 1st to 4th defendants (Omirin, IGP, INEC and Ekiti CJ), ‎to appear before this court and show cause why the interim order sought by the plaintiffs via an ex parte motion dated April 7, 2015 should not be made by this court.”
‎The court also granted leave to serve Omirin and Justice Daramola, who reside in Ekiti State, outside jurisdiction.