A high court in Lagos has thrown out former governor of Lagos state, Akinwunmi Ambode, suit challenging the legality of the probe instituted against him by the state’s house of assembly over the purchase of 820 buses ‘for reform project’ during his tenure.

Ambode lost his bid to stop the state house of assembly, Mudashiru Obasa, its speaker, and A.A. Sanni, the house clerk and Fatai Mojeed, the chairman of the ad-hoc committee set up by the house to probe the procurement of the buses and eight members of the committee.

The lawmakers alleged that the purchase of the buses was not captured in the appropriation bill for that year budget circle and were not brief before such procurement was carried out.

Consequently, The assembly set up a panel to investigate him but Ambode failed to appear before it, hence leading to the assembly threat to issue a warrant for his arrest.

The governor then headed to court which ordered the assembly to suspend its probe pending the hearing of the suit.

But on Thursday, during hearing of the suit, the presiding judge, Yetunde Adesanya, held that the house of asembly acted within the ambit of the law, noting that an investigation is not an indictment.

Adesanya ruled that the ad-hoc committee set up to investigate Ambode was a fact-finding committee.

“The claimant (Ambode) has not been indicted. An invitation by an agency of government cannot in any way cause a breach of the threat of the fundamental rights of the claimant,” she ruled

“I hereby find that the claimant’s action is an invitation to the court to cripple the legislative exercise of the statutory power of the Lagos state house of assembly under section 128 and 129 of the 1999 constitution.

“That is not the function of the court, and no court of law should accede such invitation. The claimant’s suit is hereby struck out.”