Date Published: 05/17/09

OSAC: Mimiko did not flout any court order -ODSG

…warns Keyamo to quit cheap blackmail

Ondo State Government on Sunday described as blatant lie last week’s sweeping statement credited to Lagos lawyer, Festus Keyamo in which he accused the State Governor, Dr Olusegun Mimiko of flouting court order purportedly restraining him from taking over the State-owned company, the Ondo State Asphalt Company (OSAC).

Keyamo had last Thursday made available a letter to the press in which he alleged that Governor Mimiko had, despite a May 4, 2009 court order by an Akure High Court 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 to its premises.

But in its reaction on Sunday, the Ondo State Government chided Keyamo for being economical with the truth saying that it never flouted any court order.

In a release issued by the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Mr. Kolawole Olabisi, the State Government said that at no time did it flout any court order as actions being complained about by Keyamo and his clients had been carried out between February ending and early March this year long before the so-called court order on May 4 th.

According to Olabisi, following the ouster of the administration of Dr Olusegun Agagu via the Court of Appeal on February 23, this year, the office of the Governor was inundated with security reports that OSAC’s property worth millions of Naira  were being illegally removed from the company to unknown destinations by officials of the ousted regime.

“Indeed, some of these state-of-the-art equipments 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 government area 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 over-see 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 th, 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 or impugned upon, he knows what to do-simply to go to court rather than resorting to cheap blackmail on the pages of newspapers.

“But one thing is clear; the present government in Ondo State is a firm believer in the rule of law, due process and will do everything to reverse the abuse of the immediate past. Enough of cheap blackmail by those who set us back by several years all in their bid to distract us from our set goal of bringing the real dividends of democracy to our people after years of government of profligacy and ineptitude,” Olabisi stated.

OSAC established in 1991, was wholly owned by the Ondo State Government until its controversial sale by the former Governor, Dr Olusegun Agagu to GSQ Construction Limited, an Akure-based construction firm in January 2007 amidst protests from several quarters.