Ondo faults lawyer, others on court verdict
From Julius Alabi, Akure
GOVERNOR Olusegun Mimiko did not flout any court order purportedly restraining him from taking over the state-owned Ondo State Asphalt Company (OSAC) as claimed by a Lagos-based lawyer, Festus Keyamo, Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Mr. Kolawole Olabisi, has said.
In a statement at the weekend, Olabisi described Keyamo's claims as "blatant lie" in the matter.
Keyamo alleged that Mimiko had, despite a May 4, 2009, Akure High Court order restraining the state government from taking over OSAC pending the determination of the substantive suit before it, gone ahead to appoint a board for the company as well as deploying policemen on the firm's premises.
The OSAC, which was established in 1991, was wholly owned by Ondo State until its controversial sale by former Governor Olusegun Agagu to GSQ Construction Limited, an Akure-based construction firm, in January 2007 amid protests from several quarters.
Olabisi said that at no time did the governor flout any court order as alleged by Keyamo and his clients because the state government took action on the matter in February and early March this year "long before the so-called court order on May 4".
According to the governor's aide, Mimiko took action on the matter following several complaints he received shortly after he took over office, especially in security reports, stating that OSAC property worth millions of naira were illegally removed from the company to unknown destinations by officials of the ousted regime.
His words: "Indeed, some of these state-of-the-art equipment were recovered by the police in Ibafo Town, Ogun State, while several earth-moving machines and trucks were recovered from a secret hide-out in Irele Local Council of the state.
"Left with no option, the governor immediately arranged for security to be provided at the company to arrest the spate of looting going on there. This was immediately followed with the putting in place of an interim committee to oversee the affairs of the company in early March.
"From this, one is amazed that Keyamo could resort to cheap blackmail for his clients. As far as we are concerned, there was no injunction. What the court granted was an order of enforcement of fundamental human rights and not an injunction annulling what the governor had already done long before the May 4, 2009, ruling as Keyamo and his clients would want the whole world to believe.
"And, in any case, it is elementary principle of law that an injunction will not restrain a completed act. If Keyamo is sure that an order of court has been violated, he knows what to do - simply to go to court rather than resorting to cheap blackmail on the pages of newspapers.
Olabisi stressed that Mimiko "is a firm believer in the rule of law, due process and would do everything to reverse the abuse of the immediate past."
