The impeached Deputy Governor of Edo State, Philip Shaibu, is being persuaded to drop his petition against the Chief Judge of the state, Justice Daniel Okungbowa.
His lawyer, Andrew Emwanta, revealed this in an interview with The PUNCH on Monday.
Emwanta said in view of the appeals coming from several quarters, Shaibu was weighing his options.
Shaibu, through Emwanta, had last week written to the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Olukayode Ariwoola, requesting a complaint form to file a formal petition against the Chief Judge of Edo, Justice Daniel Okungbowa.
On the request of the Edo State House, the Chief Judge had set up a seven-man panel to probe alleged perjury and leaking of the government’s secrets against Shaibu.
The seven-man panel, headed by retired Justice S.A. Omonuwa, concluded the probe on Friday, April 5, and sent its report to the Assembly on Monday, April 8.
The Assembly, after considering the report of the probe, declared Shaibu guilty of the offence of leaking the state government’s secrets and subsequently impeached him.
Shaibu, however, described his removal as an illegality, vowing to challenge it through the instrumentality of the law.
In a letter written on his behalf to the CJN, his lawyers said, “We write as solicitors to Rt. Hon. Philip Shaibu, who until this morning was Deputy Governor of Edo state.
“Rt. Hon Philip Shaibu has instructed us to file a formal complaint to your council against Hon. Justice Daniel Okungbowa, the Chief Judge of Edo State for abuse of office, official misconduct and desecration of his oath of office.
“The purpose of this letter, therefore, is to formally request a complaint form prescribed under the Judicial Discipline Regulations 2017, to enable our client to file his complaint against the subject judge.”
When our correspondent asked the lawyer, Emwanta, for an update on the matter on Monday, he said, “There has been no response by the CJN to Shaibu’s request for a formal complaint against the state Chief Judge, Andrew Okungbowa.
Hours later, Governor Godwin Obaseki replaced Shaibu with Omobayo Godwins.
When asked if he meant the former deputy governor was dropping his complaint due to the appeals, Emwanta said, “I didn’t say so. There are appeals for him to do so, I believe this clarification is sufficient.”
“But there are moves to stay further action, as appeals have come from certain quarters for further action not to be taken against the Edo CJ. That’s why we are not proceeding for now.”
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