Three lawyers at the weekend contended with each other on whether the suit filed before and Ikeja High court by the re-elected Speaker of the Lagos House of Assembly, Hon Mudashiru Obasa could still proceed to trial or it had become an academic exercise, signifying that both the Speaker and the lawmakers are still digging deeper in their entrenched stands. There may still exist deep seated animosity amongst the parties in the suit.
While Femi Falana SAN, a leading lawyer to the 36 lawmakers contend that the whole suit has been overtaken by events and therefore, had become academic, Obasa’s lawyer, Afolabi Fasanu SAN fired back that even though his client had been re-elected, the suit will go on due to allegations of fraud against him.
The third lawyer who represented the lawmakers in court, Romeo Michael also fired that even if Obasa withdraws the suit he filed, the 36 lawmakers will still insist on their stand on his impeachment because it is constitutional.
These lawyers contentions shows that there may still exist deep seated wranglings between the parties despite the political solution provided by the leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Lagos that saw to the re-election of Obasa.
When the suit came up on Friday, the trial judge, Justice Yetunde Pinheiro had to adjourned till March 10 to hear all pending applications that had been filed by the parties.
One of such applications will be the one filed by Falana asking for the dismissal of the entire suit. “As far as we are concerned, the suit before the court is the removal of Obasa as Speaker. Now that he’s been re-elected, it is the end of the case. It has become an academic exercise and we have filed an application to that effect” Falana told Shola Soyele of Channels Television in an interview after the adjournment of the case. The interview was conducted within the court premises.
This however contradicted the positions of the lawyers before the court.
Obasa’s counsel, Fasanu told the court that though his client has been re-elected, the suit has not become an academic exercise. Fasanu said the speaker is now contending with the allegations in the notice of his removal which include fraud, high-handedness, abuse of office, gross misconduct. He contended that Obasa, was not given a fair hearing on allegations raised before he was impeached.
Counsel for the 35 lawmakers, who are the third to thirty sixth defendants, Romeo Michael, also told the court that even if the complainant withdraws his suit due to his re-election, their counter claim still stands.
Michael said the 35 lawmakers want the court to declare that his removal was constitutional and in accordance with section 92 of the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria (as amended), rather than the rules guiding the Lagos assembly.
Last Friday, February 28, members of the house who were not initially listed as defendants in the suit, had through their lawyers, Olu Daramola (SAN) and Dada Awosika(SAN), moved their applications seeking to be joined as parties.
During the sitting of the court on February 28, the former Speaker, Hon. Mojisola Meranda was represented by Tayo Oyetibo (SAN) leading Bimbo Akeredolu(SAN) and other lawyers.
Femi Falana (SAN) and Muiz Banire (SAN) led other counsels to represent 34 lawmakers who were then supporting the former Speaker, Mojisola Meranda.
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