The impeached deputy governor of Edo State, Phillip Shaibu, has been given permission by Justice James Kolawole Omotoso of the Federal High Court in Abuja to join the state assembly speaker in his legal challenge to his impeachment.
The former Deputy Governor was also ordered by the judge to become a defendant in the lawsuit alongside his successor.
The Speaker and the incoming Deputy Governor are both required parties in the lawsuit, the judge said on Wednesday in response to a petition on notice made by Shaibu. He reached this conclusion in agreement with his attorney, Ayotunde Ogunleye SAN.
The Judge determined that because the Speaker’s name appears frequently in the impeachment process under Section 188 of the 1999 Constitution, a court order that would have legal force behind it must be brought.
The Speaker and the Deputy Governor filed objections to the move on notice, but Justice Omotoso dismissed them as baseless and unfounded.
He then ordered the Speaker and the Deputy Governor to be added to the lawsuit by invoking Order 17 Rule 1 of the Federal High Court.
The former Deputy Governor was also given permission by the court to change the original summons in the lawsuit to include the Speaker and the Deputy Governor as the ninth and tenth defendants, respectively.
In the meantime, the substantive suit hearing has been scheduled for June 3 in accordance with the Judge’s direction for an expedited hearing.
