An Ado Ekiti High Court on Friday ordered substituted service on a former governor of Ekiti State, Mr Ayodele Fayose, in a N1bn suit filed against him by a former Attorney General of the state, Mr Owoseni Ajayi.
In his ruling, Justice L.O. Ogundana, who granted the orders as prayed by Ajayi, adjourned the matter till February 28 for report of service.
In the suit numbered HAD/113/2018, Ajayi is asking the court to order Fayose to pay him professional fees for a number of cases he handled for him between 2006 and 2014.
When the matter came up in court on Friday, Ajayi’s lawyer, Bayo Idowu, in a motion ex parte pursuant to Order 7 Rule 5 and Order 39 Rule of the High Court of Ekiti State Civil Procedure Rule, 2011, sought “an order for substituted service on Fayose of all processes in this case by means of pasting them at his residential home at Afao Ekiti.”
Ajayi also sought “for an order or orders as this honourable court may deem fit in the circumstance of this case.”
He told the court in an affidavit to support the motion that Fayose “is deliberately evading the processes of this honourable court. That all efforts by the bailiff to serve Fayose personally have been futile.”
Ajayi had approached the court on December 18, 2018, seeking “an order for the payment of N900m only as professional fees for 18 cases handled for Fayose at the rate of N50m per each of the cases at various courts in the country and solicitor job inclusive between 2006 and 2014.”
The former attorney-general is also seeking “20 per cent of the said sum of N900m from October 5, 2018 when the bill of charge was served on Fayose until judgement is delivered.”
Ajayi, in the suit, is also seeking payment of “10 per cent interest on the judgement sum from the date of judgement until final payment.”