The Edo State Deputy Governor, Philip Shaibu on Friday served Governor Godwin Obaseki and the House of Assembly originating summons in a case instituted to halt the impeachment proceeding against him.
Saturday PUNCH gathered that the bailiff was earlier sent away by the security at the Government House, but Shaibu succeeded in getting the summons to the governor by courier on Friday morning.
Also, the bailiff succeeded in pasting the summons at the entrance of the state House of Assembly, which was cited by Saturday PUNCH on Friday.
The Federal High Court in Abuja, on Wednesday, declined to halt the impeachment proceedings activated by the Edo State House of Assembly against Shaibu.
Justice James Omotosho declined an oral application by Shaibu’s lawyer, Prof. Olawoyin Awoyale, SAN, asking the court to order parties in the suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/321/2024, to maintain the status quo.
In declining the prayer, the judge noted that “The Governor of Edo State and the Edo State House of Assembly, who are the principal actors in the matter, have not been served with the originating summons of the suit as required by law.”
He subsequently granted Shaibu’s prayer to serve the court papers on Obaseki and the state House of Assembly by substituted means.
The House of Assembly, commenced impeachment proceedings against Shaibu on March 5, accusing him of perjury and leaking the government’s secrets.
A source close the the deputy governor said, “I can tell you that the originating summons has been served the governor and the House of Assembly. Hopefully, this will help the deputy governor have sometime to evade the impeachment move.”
However, a Government House source noted that the bailiff was not chased away or prevented from pasting the summons at the gate of the Government House.
“The bailiff was not chased away. That story is a figment of the author’s imagination,” the source said.
However, the Director General of the Philip Shaibu Campaign Organisations, Sunny Okomayin, called on Godwin Obaseki and the House of Assembly to exercise patience, as the case challenging the impeachment move had been fixed for April 15.
Okomayin told Saturday PUNCH on Friday that the National Working Committee of the Peoples Democratic Party to intervene in the matter and bring sanity back to the party in the state.
He said, “The way things are being done in this matter, I wouldn’t know whether we have another country other than Nigeria. If a federal court call on them parties to come tomorrow to resume a case, I think the House of Assembly should exercise patience. To crown it all, serving the impeachment notice by substitution is illegal while the seven days from the day of publication has lapsed.
“I am shocked that the house is in a rush to give the Chief Judge the order to constitute a panel. It shows they have a sinister motive. I have lost faith in the kind of democracy being practised in Edo State under Obaseki and his House of Assembly members,” he added
