A High Court sitting in Akure, the Ondo State capital on Thursday nullified the indefinite suspension placed on one of the House of Assembly members, Hon. Tomide Akinribido.
Akinribido, a member of the Zenith Labour Party (ZLP) representing Ondo West Constituency 1 in the Assembly, was suspended alongside eight other lawmakers who opposed the impeachment process of the embattled Deputy Governor of the state, Hon. Agboola Ajayi.
The lawmaker was suspended indefinitely in August by the leadership of the House over alleged gross misconduct.
Dissatisfied by the action of the Assembly, Akinribido immediately approached the High Court to challenge his suspension by the House.
In the judgement delivered by Justice Ademola Bola who ruled that the Assembly had no power to place an indefinite suspension on lawmakers.
He said the House could only regulate actions of its members by taking disciplinary actions against any erring members and held that the suspension of any member could not be more than one legislative day or a plenary sitting.
He, however, declared that the lawmaker’s indefinite suspension was a misuse of the powers of the Assembly and hence null and void, but dismissed the prayer of the lawmakers to award cost.
In his reaction, Akinribido who commended the court for the judgement said he would resume his legislative duty in the Assembly next week.
He said: “The meaning of the judgement is that my suspension expired at the next plenary sitting after the day I was suspended. Anyway, I will write the House that I’m resuming next week.”
With the judgement, all the suspended lawmakers in the House had been reinstated by the court.
Recall that the Deputy Speaker, Mr Iroju Ogundeji and two others, Mrs Favour Tomomewo and Mr Adewale Williams who earlier were suspended by the Assembly all had their suspension reversed by the court.