BREAKING NEWS ! Lawmakers Impeach Rauf Olaniyan as Oyo State Deputy Governor

Breaking News !

Lawmakers in the Oyo State House of Assembly have impeached the Deputy Governor, Engineer Rauf Aderemi Olaniyan.

The Assembly members impeached the number 2 citizen on Monday at about 11.30 am during the house plenary, noting that the impeachment takes immediate effect.

The action was taken after the reading and adoption of the recommendations of a report of the 7-man panel set up by the State Chief Judge, Munta Abimbola to investigate allegations levelled against Engr Olaniyan.

The report was read on the floor by the Majority Leader of the House, Sanjo Adedoyin and Olaniyan was found guilty of all the charges listed against against him.

In June 2022, the Oyo State House of Assembly initiated steps to impeach the State Deputy Governor, Rauf Olaniyan.

This followed the petition against him brought to the attention of the House by some Lawmakers of the assembly during plenary.

Some of the offences listed against Olaniyan by the lawmakers include gross misconduct, abuse of office, financial recklessness, abandonment of office, official duty and insubordination.

24 out of the 32 members in the State Assembly signed the petition for impeachment against him.

According to them, if the Deputy Governor fails to respond to the allegations, then impeachment proceedings will be initiated.

Following the development, Olaniyan took the matter to court, seeking a restraining order on the lawmakers.

Luckily for him at that time, the case filed over the procedure to remove him from office by the State House of Assembly was dismissed.

Reports say that the case was struck out by Justice Ladiran Akintola of Oyo State High Court on Thursday, July 14.

The judge ruled that the Oyo Assembly lawmakers and all the defendants have not erred on the procedures taken.

Rauf Olaniyan and Seyi Makinde

According to the Court, the originating summons filed by Olaniyan was purely legislative procedure and not judicial in line with the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Mr. Olaniyan who has now been impeached, recently defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC) in what is believed to be a part of the cold war between him and Governor Seyi Makinde who has since picked another person as his running mate to seek re-election in 2023.