Ambode loses bid to stop probe by lawmakers over purchase of 820 buses

An Ikeja High Court yesterday held that former Gov. Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos cannot stop the state Assembly from probing him over his administration’s  purchase  of 820 buses for the state’s bus reform project. In a one-hour ruling, Justice Yetunde Adesanya said that Ambode’s suit,  which sought an injunction to restrain the Assembly  from probing […]

An Ikeja High Court yesterday held that former Gov. Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos cannot stop the state Assembly from probing him over his administration’s  purchase  of 820 buses for the state’s bus reform project.

In a one-hour ruling, Justice Yetunde Adesanya said that Ambode’s suit,  which sought an injunction to restrain the Assembly  from probing him, breached the doctrine of separation of powers.

She said: “An ad-hoc committee is an investigative committee performing a fact finding function and not a court, judicial body or a tribunal.

“It is not set up to determine the civil rights and obligations of the claimant.

“In the same breath, an investigation is not an indictment, it precedes an indictment.

“The claimant, in this instance, has not been indicted by the House of Assembly neither has the committee indicted the claimant by a mere invitation by summons to appear before it,” she said.

The judge held that  an invitation by the committee did not constitute a beach of the former governor’s fundamental right to  fair hearing as contained in Section 36 of the 1999 Constitution.

Striking out the case, Adesanya described Ambode’s suit as an attempt to invoke judicial interference in the powers of the legislature. (NAN)