The Lagos State House of Assembly on Wednesday agreed to halt proceedings in the probe of former Governor of the State, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, over procurement of 820 buses for public transportation.
Ambode had instituted a suit against the Assembly, the Speaker, Mudashiru Obasa and others, to contest the constitutionality of the probe, accusing them of bias and misrepresentation of facts.
When the matter came up in court on Wednesday morning, Ambode’s lawyer, Mr. Tayo Oyetibo (SAN), informed the court of his pending application for interlocutory injunction, saying that same had been served on the defendants.
In response, a team of lawyers of the defendants led by Mrs. Adenike Oshinowo, including Mrs. Adegbite and Ms. Olayemi Johnson confirmed service of the application, but pleaded for time since the processes were served at about 6pm on Tuesday.
They specifically requested two weeks to respond but the date they suggested was not convenient for the court.
Responding, Oyetibo did not object to the application of the defendants for adjournment but urged the Court to direct parties to maintain status quo. In her response, the presiding Judge, Justice Yetunde Adesanya, said “it goes without saying” and called on Mrs. Osinowo for her response who also agreed that status quo would be maintained by the Defendants.
The court then adjourned the matter to November 20 2019 for the hearing of the motion on Notice for interlocutory injunction.
With the ruling, the former Governor cannot be summoned to appear again before the House probe panel as both parties have agreed to maintain status quo till the new hearing date.
According to his statement of claim before the court, Ambode had said contrary to deliberate misrepresentation of facts by the lawmakers, the procurement of the 820 buses was well captured in the 2018 Appropriation Law which was duly approved by the House.
“In section 1 of the Bill, the 1st Defendant (House of Assembly) authorized the total Budget for the year 2018 to be One Trillion, Forty Six Billion, One Hundred and Twenty One Million, One Hundred and Eighty-One Thousand, Six Hundred and Eighty Naira (N1,046,121,181,680.00) comprising the sum of Three Hundred and Forty Seven Billion, Thirty-Eighty Million, Nine Hundred and Thirty-Eight Thousand, Eight-Hundred and Seventy-Two Naira (N347,038,938,872.00) only and Six Hundred and Ninety-Nine Billion, Eighty-Two Million, Two Hundred and Forty-Two Thousand, Eight Hundred and Eighty Naira (N699,082,242,808.00) only as the Recurrent and Capital Expenditures respectively.
“Part of the items authorized by the Bill under Capital Expenditure was: “LAGBUS Public Transport Infrastructure (MEPB); Part financing of 820 buses” which was item 8 under schedule 1- Part C of the Bill,” the former Governor averred.
He added that having prescribed the manner of withdrawal of funds in sections 3 and 4 of the 2018 Appropriation Law, it was unconstitutional for the House to attach another condition in section 9 of the law for further approval to be sought before incurring any expenditure on the purchase of the buses.
Highlighting the specific breach of his constitutional rights to fair hearing by the House, the former Governor said on August 27, 2019 during proceedings of the Assembly, some lawmakers thoroughly vilified and disparaged him as having purchased the buses without budgetary approval and that the procurement was a waste of public funds, while at the end of the proceedings, the House resolved to constitute an Ad Hoc Committee to probe the procurement.
He said it was surprising that the very lawmakers who contributed actively in vilifying, disparaging and denigrating him constituted the bulk of the members of the Committee, which was a clear derogation of his right to fair hearing.
Ambode added that in continuation of deliberate misrepresentation of facts of the issue, the House falsely claimed that an invitation had been extended to him to appear before the Committee but that he failed to honour the said invitation.
“The Claimant states that no letter of invitation was delivered to him before the 4th and 5th Defendants made the false allegation against the Claimant which was widely reported by various national Newspapers in the country.”
He added that the House Committee and indeed the entire members of the House had already adjudged him as having committed wastage of public fund by the procurement of the buses in question and had also already determined that the procurement was done by him as opposed to the State Government.
He said it was obvious that the lawmakers were totally biased against him having regard to their pronouncements on the floor of the House by reason of which he believes that his right to fair hearing as guaranteed by the Constitution had been seriously compromised by the defendants.
He is, therefore, seeking among others, the court’s declaration that the power of the House to pass a resolution under section 128(1) of the Constitution to cause an inquiry into his conduct as Governor is subject to right to fair hearing as guaranteed by section 36(1) of the Constitution.
He also wants a declaration that the Resolution of the House setting up a 9-Man Committee comprising of the 4th-12th Defendants to investigate all transactions in respect of the 820 Buses said by the defendants to have been procured by him derogates from his right as guaranteed by section 36(1) of the Constitution and therefore is unconstitutional, null and void.
He is therefore, among others seeking:
“AN INJUNCTION restraining the Defendants whether by themselves, their servants, agents and or representatives from compelling the Claimant, in any manner whatsoever, to appear before the Defendants pursuant to the Resolution passed by the Defendants on 27th August 2019 or any other Resolution passed in respect of the subject matter of this Suit.
“AN INJUNCTION restraining the Defendants whether by themselves, their servants, agents and or representatives from representing or continue to represent to the Public that the Claimant, AKINWUNMI AMBODE, procured 820 buses in breach of budgetary approval.”
Following the ruling of the Court urging all parties to maintain status quo, the Ad Hoc Committee set up by the Lagos State House of Assembly to investigate all transactions in respect of the 820 buses procured by the immediate past administration of Mr. Ambode, has suspended its sitting indefinitely.
Addressing journalists shortly after a brief sitting by the Committee, its Chairman, Hon. Fatal Mojeed said that the matter was adjourned indefinitely as the Committee got court summon to stay action on the matter and that they had to respect the opinion of the court.
“We are lawmakers we are not law breakers, which was why we had to adjourn the matter indefinitely. The people of Lagos should be expecting more from us,” he said.
Also speaking, Hon. Gbolahan Yishawu said that the House was not trying to witch hunt anybody or put anybody on the spot for any reason.
Yishawu stressed that the Assembly was not being pushed by any individual on the matter, while recalling that the issue dated back to 2017, when it was included in the appropriation law but was not approved by the House.
However, Mr. Olaniran Obele from the chambers of Mr. Tayo Oyetibo (SAN), counsel of former governor Ambode, expressed dismay that they were not allowed into the committee room and could not confirm if the Committee sat.
But Obele welcomed the decision of the Committee to suspend further sitting on the matter based on the High Court ruling.
He said he was at the Assembly to drop a letter stating reasons why the former governor could no longer honour the summon as a result of the court ruling.
“The former governor was invited by the ad hoc committee to appear before it today. We came to represent Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, but the officials of the House of Assembly, in a military manner, prevented us from entering the Committee room. You saw what transpired at the committee level, we were not allowed to go in.
“There is a matter pending in court and this afternoon, the court said the status quo should be maintained, that nothing should be done. We brought processes from the court and letters to serve on the Chairman of the Committee and the Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly but they refused to accept validly issued court documents and letter conveying what the court has said to them”, Obele said.
Part of the content of the letter read thus: In the circumstances, we request that further proceedings of the Committee, and indeed the entire House, in respect of the subject matter of the Suit, be adjourned to wait the outcome of the court proceedings so as not to bring the House in collision with the court as the matter is now subjudice.
“Finally, we wish to inform you that since the constitutionality of the proceedings of the Committee is being challenged in the civil Suit, our Client will not be able to appear before the committee until the matter is decided by the court in order not to prejudice the fair hearing of his case.”
