Court dismisses suspended Ogun LG Chairman’s lawsuit to halt the investigation

The head of the Ijebu East Legislative Council was recently suspended by council members as part of ongoing investigations into potential financial irregularities.

An ex-parte motion submitted by Wale Adedayo, the suspended chairman of Ijebu East Local Government, asking the court to halt further inquiries and actions by the council members looking into him on suspicion of financial mismanagement, was denied by an Ogun High Court sitting in Ijebu Ode.

The sitting court, Justice Ayodele Omoniyi, denied the application in “its entirety” in his ruling on the ex-parte motion presented by Barrister O.T. Are on behalf of the suspended chairman, Wale Adedayo, in place of Adeyinka Kotoye SAN.

You may recall that the deputy chairman of the Ijebu East Legislative Council was instructed to take over while the council’s inquiry into alleged financial malpractices was ongoing. The chairman had recently been suspended.

Are, the plaintiff’s attorney, informed the court of the ex-parte motion dated September 6 asking for an interim order restraining the defendants, their agents, and privies from continuing with the letter of invitation to the claimant asking him to appear before the Legislative Council on September 14. The motion also asked, alternatively, for an order directing the parties to maintain the status quo.

The court observed in its decision that the plaintiff’s application was out of time because he received notice of the aforementioned resolution on August 31 but didn’t file it until September 11.

“Delay defeats equity,” the court remarked.

It was mandated that the claimant give the defendants notice and return on September 22, 2023, for the hearing of the original summons.