By Dayo Johnson

Akure—THE process that may end in the impeachment of the Ondo State Deputy Governor, Alhaji Ali Olanusi, kicked off yesterday as a seven-member probe panel was constituted by the state Chief Judge, Justice Olaseinde Kumuyi.

This is coming as the state PDP accused the deputy governor of shopping  for a judge to manipulate the ongoing impeachment process against him and procure an illegal injunction to stall the plan.

The seven-man panel has a retired Chief Magistrate, Mr Olatunji Stanley Adeniyan, as Chairman.

Other members of the panel include Mr Aladesanmi Akingbade, Barr. Ademola Ekundayo, Ven. Richard Obafemi, Mr Abraham Kola Mathew, Alhaji Ibrahim Shodeinde and Mrs Eunice Yinka Obadele.

Constituting the probe panel at the premises of the state High Court, the Chief Judge, Justice Kumuyi, said it was in response to the House of Assembly’s directive in a letter dated April 23, 2015.

Justice Kumuyi noted that it was “in line with the provision of section 188(5) of the Constitution of Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999, as amended, I have set up a seven-man panel to investigate the allegations against the deputy governor as required by the constitution.

Meanwhile, the PDP in the state has alleged that some members of the All Progressives Congress APC, also “at a meeting   in Lagos, decided that in line with its penchant for propaganda, agreed to begin to churn out false information about the state government, the state House of   Assembly and its members in order to discredit the system and the process of the impeachment.”

To this end, the party said, “the deputy governor and his party have secured the understanding of a GSM service provider which will assist in disseminating false information about the impeachment process in order to discredit it.”

The party’s Publicity Secretary, Banji Okunomo, said that the “evil plans will fail and the law will eventually take its natural cause on the impeachment of the deputy governor.”

Okunomo pointed out that “what the House of Assembly is doing is constitutional and due process is being followed in the impeachment process”

It will be recalled that the state PDP had earlier alerted of the    plot by the APC to unleash terror on the state to prevent the impeachment of the deputy governor.

It   alleged plan by the APC to import youths from neighboring states   to cause mayhem and disrupt the peace in the state under the guise of protesting against the government in support of   the   deputy governor.