Ondo is heading into the record books as the only state to have initiated impeachment proceedings against at least three deputy governors for gross misconduct. The state Assembly is currently in the middle of an impeachment proceeding against Lucky Aiyedatiwa.
Deputy governors in Ondo state appear to always behave badly. That is the impression given by the governors and members of the House of Assembly who initiate the impeachment process.
In April 2015, deputy governor of the state, Ali Olanusi was impeached exactly one month after defecting from the People’s Democratic Party to the All Progressives’ Congress. In world of Ondo politics, leaving the party of the governor amounted to gross misconduct.
Before Aiyedatiwa, there was Agboola Ajayi who served as Governor
Rotimi Akeredolu’s deputy and engaged in a months-long legal and political battle all through the year 2020 to hold on to his seat after also defecting from the political party of his state governor.
In the end, it was the court that stopped Ondo lawmakers from removing Ajayi from office. However, Ondo is not the only state in Nigeria where the impeachment process has served as a means of settling political scores.
Last year, members of the Oyo State House of Assembly impeached the deputy governor of the state, Rauf Olaniyan, who defected from the PDP, the ruling party in the state, to the APC. Olaniyan defected just when the governor, Seyi Makinde, was trying to ward off the challenge of the APC in his bid for a second term. And for Makinde, what his deputy did was nothing short of gross misconduct.
There are roughly half a dozen more deputy governors that have been impeached for political reasons that somehow amount to gross misconduct, the constitutional requirement needed to impeach a governor or deputy governor.
Eze Madumere, deputy governor of Imo State was impeached in 2018. In 2009, Garba Gadi, was impeached as the deputy governor of Bauchi.
Peremobowei Ebebi, the deputy governor of Bayelsa state was impeached in 2010. And in February 2022, Mahdi Aliyu Gusau, the deputy governor of Zamfara State, was impeached by the state Assembly after refusing to decamp to the APC with Governor Bello Matawalle.
In Kogi State, a deputy governor, was also impeached. Simon Achuba, who had fallen out with Governor Yahaya Bello was in October 2019 impeached by state lawmakers.
Sunday Onyebuchi was in August 2014 impeached as deputy governor of Enugu.
We also recall the ordeal of the Deputy Governor of Edo state, Phillip Shaibu, who had to be disgraced publicly and thrown out of his office for daring to dream to be governor.
Today, it is the deputy governor of Ondo Lucky Aiyedatiwa that is on the verge of being impeached.
In spite of the fact that the national headquarters of the APC has set up a reconciliation committee to resolve the issues at hand, the speaker of the Ondo House of Assembly has once again asked the Chief Judge of Ondo State, Olusegun Odusola, to set up a panel to investigate the deputy governor for 14 offences, which the lawmakers believe amount to gross misconduct. These include speaking ill about the governor’s health and causing division among the state executive members.
There is no denying that Aiyedatiwa tried to take advantage of Akeredolu’s health challenges and put himself in pole position for the governorship election coming up next year.
But then, Akeredolu’s long absence left both an administrative and a political power vacuum that had to be filled. Power, after all abhors a vacuum. Yes, the deputy governor played politics with the health of the governor. That is not, in any way, a legal issue that could lead to his impeachment. Neither should his ambition to be governor.
It is the view of this newspaper that the constitutional provision detailing why and how governors or deputy governors can be removed from office have been abused by state assemblies over the years.
Impeachment is being used to settle political scores, which is not the objective of the constitution. Section 188 is clear on this.
This suggests that gross misconduct is whatever the lawmakers say it is. And it is exactly why the process has been abused over the years. We believe that the constitution needs to be amended to narrow down what amounts to gross misconduct as it relates to the impeachment of public officers.
And as long as the chief judge goes along with it, the case currently playing out in Ondo gives the lawmakers the powers to impeach the deputy governor for insulting the governor. And yet, it is the deputy governor that is accused of abusing his powers.
