By Agboola Bayo
Ibadan
The All Progressives Congress (APC), yesterday rejected the impeachment of Ondo state deputy governor, Alhaji Ali Olanusi, saying, the impeachment process violated provisions of the impeachment clause in the 1999 Constitution.
APC in a statement signed by its National Vice Chairman in charge of South-west, Chief Pius Akinyelure, declared that the decision of the Ondo state House of Assembly to go ahead with the impeachment, was a contempt of court as the court had ordered all parties in the matter to maintain the status quo in a suit the deputy governor filed before he travelled out.
The party stressed that the decision of the state House of Assembly, which acted as Mimiko’s rubber stamp, would not stand, adding that the impeachment process was a mockery of constitutional order which Governor Olusegun Mimiko and all members of the State House of Assembly were sworn in to uphold.
APC noted that despite the decision of a High Court sitting in Akure that all parties should maintain status quo until substantive suit is determined, the legislative arm of the state went ahead to impeach the deputy governor.
According to the party, the Ondo state House of Assembly committed three different infractions to the 1999 Constitution in the process of the deputy governor, who had travelled out of the country for medical check-up before impeachment procedures started.
APC cited violation of section 188(2) (b) of the 1999 Constitution, stipulating that the Speaker of the House of Assembly “shall, within seven days of the receipt of the notice of impeachment, cause a copy of the notice to be the holder of the office and on each member of the House of Assembly and shall also cause any statement made in reply to the allegation by the holder of the office”.