October 18, (THEWILL) – A Federal High Court sitting in Lagos has summoned the Ogun State House of Assembly (OGHA) to appear in a N10 billion fundamental rights enforcement suit filed by a former managing director of Ogun State Property Investment Corporation (OPIC), Jide Odusolu.
Presiding judge of the court, Justice Peter Lifu, summoned the Assembly to explain within 72 hours, why the House should not be restrained from probing Odusolu’s tenure as the OPIC managing director.
The Assembly had at plenary on September 21, 2021, adopted the report of its Committee on Anti-Corruption and Public Accounts, which upon investigation of OPIC’s finances claimed that huge sums of money were missing from its accounts.
Dissatisfied with the Assembly’s action, Odusolu filed a suit to enforce his fundamental rights claiming the sum of N10 billion as damages.
The Inspector-General of Police, Assistant Inspector-General of Police in charge of Zone 2, Commissioner of Police in Ogun State and the Ogun State House of Assembly were joined as respondents in the suit.
In the suit, Odusolu is seeking a court’s declaration that the proceedings of the Assembly and the report of the Committee which it purportedly adopted constitute an infringement on his fundamental right to fair hearing.
He also wants the court to declare that the Assembly lacks the competence to investigate the alleged crime. Odusolu claimed that the chairman of the Committee that purportedly investigated OPIC funds was himself an interested party who served together with him while in office and that he even inspected some OPIC projects which he now claims have not been executed.
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