Taking a hard look at the alleged refusal of the Deputy Governor of Edo state, Philip Shaibu, to appear before the seven-man panel to investigate his alleged impeachable offences, the panel has given him until April 5 to enter his defence and show cause why he should not be impeached.
The panel resumed sitting on Thursday after its inauguration and expected Shaibu to appear before it. Unfortunately, neither he nor his legal team were seen before the court.
At Thursday’s sitting, the chairman of the panel, Justice S. A. Omonuwa (retd.), urged members of the panel to exercise patience to see if he would appear to enter his defence.
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At the sitting, the legal officer in the Edo State House of Assembly, N.U. Ibrahim announced his appearance at the Assembly alongside two others.
Justice Omonuwa then ruled that the panel would still give the deputy governor one more chance to appear to defend himself and adjourned the sitting to Friday, March 5.
Justice Omonuwa announced, “The panel is adjourned for the last time to April 5, 2024, at noon, to allow the defendant to present his defence.”
It would be recalled that at the inaugural sitting of the panel on Wednesday, counsel to Shaibu, Prof Oladoyin Awoyale (SAN), had argued he and the defendant would not attend the impeachment sitting to obey the order of an Abuja Federal High Court.
The court had asked all parties to appear before it to show cause why it should not grant the enforcement of fundamental human rights prayer Shaibu tabled before it.
Awoyale (SAN) had argued that the panel should suspend sitting since the court asked all parties to come before it on Monday, April 8, 2024.
However, the panel overruled his submission and upheld the argument of the counsel for the House of Assembly, Joe Ohiafi, arguing that no court stopped the Assembly or panel from carrying out its constitutional duties.
The panel allowed Ohiafi to open the case for the state assembly.
The plaintiff’s counsel argued that the constitution empowers only the state House of Assembly to determine what constitutes gross misconduct.
He closed his argument that Shaibu breached his oath of office by attaching documents relating to the Edo State Executive Council to the case he filed in the Abuja Federal High Court.
He prayed that by the deputy governor’s action, Shaibu had breached his oath of office and should be impeached.
The deputy governor must appear before the panel by tomorrow (Friday), after which his fate will be known.
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