The governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Oyo State, Senator Teslim Folarin, has described the impeachment of the former deputy governor of the state, Rauf Olaniyan, as illegal and lack of respect for the rule of law.
In a statement he personally signed and made available to journalists in Ibadan,on Monday, Folarin said the committee set up by the Chief Judge of the state to investigate the deputy governor also showed lack of integrity.
He wondered why the commitee would give the deputy governor 15 minutes to appear before it, adding that the Chief Judge breached his oath of office by ignoring the service of notice of appeal and application for injunction pending before the Court of Appeal before proceeding to constitute the investigative committee.
According to Folarin, despite the intervention of the counsel to the deputy governor that he needed time to prepare himself for the allegations leveled against him, the Chief Judge hurriedly set up the committee to “carry out his bidding.”
“The illegal impeachment does not stop the Court of Appeal and by extension the Supreme Court from doing their job.
“The impeachment of Olaniyan would not just fail, but the consequences would, in the nearest future, hunt those orchestrating it,” he said.
According to the senator, APC would not relent in providing alternative to “unruly and undemocratic acts of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) administration in the state.”
He admonished members of the House of Assembly to remember that posterity will judge whatever they do today, stressing that the process which they follow in removing the deputy governor contradicts the provisions of the Constitution.
“The lawmakers’ action is a pure disregard to the laws of the country because a service of notice of appeal and application for injunction is pending when the Chief Judge proceeded to constitute the investigation committee,” Folarin said.
He appealed to members of APC in the state to remain calm, adding that the deputy governor will appeal the impeachment.
Folarin assured Olaniyan that APC would stand by him in this “trying times.”
