The Oyo State House of Assembly has impeached the Deputy Governor Of Oyo State, Engr. Rauf Olaniyan who was alleged of gross misconduct.
The Deputy Governor was impeached on Monday following the recommendation of Justice Munta Abimbola-led investigation panel as contained in the report submitted to the House of Assembly which affirmed the allegations levelled against the deputy governor.
23 out of the 32 lawmakers of the Oyo State House of Assembly by section 188 (4) of the Nigerian constitution signed the petition against the deputy governor at the inception of the impeachment process.
The Speaker, Oyo State House of Assembly, Honourable Adebo Ogundoyin announced the Deputy Governor’s impeachment during today’s plenary after deliberation on the report of the 7-man panel of investigation.
According to the report of the panel as read on the floor of the House noted that the Deputy governor at different times during the investigation failed to honour the invitation sent to him to appear before it which made the panel to make series of adjournment.
Recall that Justice Ladiran Akintola of an Oyo State High Court, sitting in Ibadan last week dismissed the suit filed by the Deputy Governor to stop the state House of Assembly from proceeding with the impeachment process.
Delivering the judgment last week, July 14, the court held that the House of Assembly has not breached the provisions of the constitution on the removal of a Governor or Deputy Governor.
According to the court, the lawmakers substantially complied with the provisions of Section 188 of the Constitution on the removal process.
The House, by constitutional provisions for citizens’ right to a fair hearing forwarded a copy of the petition to the Deputy Governor for his response to the allegations levelled against him by 23 lawmakers.
The House mandated the Deputy Governor to make his response available within seven days.
The Deputy Governor, Rauf Olaniyan, however, defiled the directive of the House to respond to the allegations but instead approached the court to seek for restraining order to stop the process initiated against him.
It would be recalled that the embattled Deputy Governor was elected in 2019 on a joint ticket with Governor Seyi Makinde on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) but recently defected to the opposition party, the All Progressives Congress(APC) as the imbroglio persist.