Ekiti High Court ‘Nullifies’ Supreme Court’s Verdict
Months
after the verdict of the Supreme Court on the relocation of the
headquarters of Ilejemeje Local Government, Ekiti State High Court
sitting in Ado Ekiti hss nullified the judgment of the apex court.
Recall
that in an unanimous judgment delivered by Justice Bode Rhodes-Vivour
on December 14, the Supreme Court ordered the relocation of Ilejemeje
council headquarters from Iye-Ekiti to Eda-Oniyo, ending a 19-year legal
battle, which began at the state High Court.
According
to NATION reports the apex court had held that the relocation of the
headquarters of the local government to Iye-Ekiti was null and void,
noting that the decision was not backed by any statute.
But
while ruling on an application by the claimant (Iye-Ekiti), the
presiding Judge, Justice Abiodun Adesodun, said the government should
have waited for the determination of the suit before the court before
making such proclamation.
The
state government through the Deputy Governor, Otunba Bisi Egbeyemi,
had on Monday made a proclamation, which relocated the headquarters of
Ilejemeje Local Government Area from Iye-Ekiti to Eda-Oniyo, alluding to
the December 14, 2018 judgment of the Supreme Court.
Justice
Adesodun, however, described the decision of the state government on
the matter as an act of “executive rascality and self-help,” adding that
the status quo should be maintained pending the final determination of
the case.
Following
the creation of Ekiti State in October 1, 1996, Ilejemeje Local
Government Area was one of its 16 local government areas with its
headquarters located in Eda Oniyo.
But
three months later, through a radio announcement by the then Military
Governor of the state, Col. Inua Bawa, government notified the public of
the relocation of the local government from Eda-Oniyo to Iye-Ekiti.
The
Eleda of Eda-Oniyo, Oba Awolola, instituted a legal action by a writ of
summons at the state High Court in 1999, seeking a declaration that the
relocation of the headquarters from Eda-Oniyo to Iye-Ekiti was illegal,
null and void.
The
High Court ruled in 2001 in favour of Oba Awolola, but the Ekiti State
Government appealed against the judgment and won at the Court of Appeal,
Ilorin.
The
monarch, through his lawyer, Mr. Oluwadamilare Awokoya, filed another
appeal in 2008 before the Supreme Court to challenge the decision of the
Court of Appeal.
The apex court, in its judgment, set aside the March 6, 2006 Court of Appeal judgment and affirmed that of the state High Court.
In
a unanimous judgment delivered by Justice Bode Rhodes-Vivour on
December 14, 2018, the Supreme Court ordered the state government to
take immediate steps to relocate the council headquarters to Eda-Oniyo
from Iye-Ekiti.
The state through Egbeyemi, said the government had no option than to obey the apex court’s decision.
The
deputy governor had proclaimed that the decision of the Supreme Court,
the highest court in the land, on the matter, was sacrosanct, inviolable
and binding on the state government.
He
had said it would be “illegal, irregular, unconstitutional, null and
void” to recognise Iye-Ekiti as the headquarters of the council.
But
the High court voided the relocation of the council’s headquarters and
ruled that the status quo should be maintained, pending the final
determination of the case.
Counsel
to the claimant, Taiwo Kupolati, while making his final address, argued
that the decision of the government contravened the Local Government
Administration Law of 1999, which recognised Iye-Ekiti as the
headquarters of Ilejemeje Local Government Area.
Kupolati
also said the community was not joined in the suit leading to the
judgment of the Supreme Court, noting that there was no statute backing
the proclamation of the government on the relocation.
He
called on the court to enforce the right of the claimant and save the
state from what he described as “absolute recklessness.”
Counsel
to the first (state government) and second (Attorney General)
respondents, Yetunde Kolawole, said that the state government made the
proclamation based on the verdict of the Supreme Court.
Kolawole added that it would amount to contempt of court for the state government to jettison the decision of the apex court .
Justice Adesodun, however, fixed November 19 for judgment on the matter.
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