Orders IGP to Restore His Security Aides
The court issued an order of perpetual injunction restraining Governor Godwin Obaseki and the Edo State House of Assembly from stopping Shaibu from performing the functions of his office.
By Halimah Olamide
A Federal High Court in Abuja, on Wednesday ordered the reinstatement of impeached Deputy Governor Philip Shaibu.
The Court ruled that his earlier impeachment by the Edo State House of Assembly was unconstitutional.
The Court presided over by Hon. Justice James Omotosho held that the removal of the Plaintiff, Shaibu from office as Deputy Governor of Edo State and the subsequent appointment of Omobayo Godwins as his replacement by the Governor of Edo State was illegal, unconstitutional, null and void. The Court held that there was a breach of the provisions of the procedure laid out in Section 188(1) to (9) in the way and manner the impeachment process was conducted.
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The court noted that the ouster clause in Section 188(10) limiting the jurisdiction is not a stand alone provision. The Court referred to the decision of the Nigerian Supreme Court in Inakoju v. Adeleke(2007).
It held that the said impeachment was in gross violation of the provisions of both sections 188 and 35 of the 1999 Constitution, as amended.
Aside from restoring him to office as the Deputy Governor, the court held that all his salaries, allowances, and benefits should be paid to him from April 8, when he was illegally impeached, until the expiration of his tenure.
The court issued an order of perpetual injunction restraining Governor Godwin Obaseki and the Edo State House of Assembly from stopping Shaibu from performing the functions of his office.
It also ordered the Inspector General of Police to immediately restore all his security details.
The court maintained that the reason the Edo Assembly gave for impeaching the plaintiff was lame and smacked of an ochestrated political vendetta.