Ekiti State governor, Ayo Fayose has petitioned the Chief Justice of Nigeria, CJN, Justice Walter Onnoghen over alleged plot by the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, using their members of Ekiti extraction to arm-twist the judiciary into removing him from office. Fayose, who claimed to have been privy to the move, said the plot was hatched by the Minister of Solid Minerals, Dr. Kayode Fayemi and Chief Segun Oni, at a meeting held in Ado-Ekiti, attended by other party leaders. He alleged that those behind the move claimed to be acting on a military report on the election that he won to become governor. The Ekiti helmsman, who said these in a statement
yesterday, said plans had been concluded to execute the conspiracy in connivance with a popular judge, who is known for controversial judgments and two other judges. Consequently, he called on the CJN to prevent the judiciary from being used to actualise the aims of a few privileged members of Ekiti State chapter of APC. The statement reads in part: “This time, the plotters of this judicial coup-de-tat plan to procure the services of a compromised judge to get self-serving jankara and kangaroo judgment with the intention of having the Supreme Court reverse itself on the June 2014 Ekiti election. ”They boastfully claimed that they have got the assurances of some judges in the concocted fresh suit, hinged on the report of an orchestrated military report not known to the Electoral law. “The CJN should take notice of judicial pronouncements by courts of concurrent jurisdiction as well as the scathing remarks of appellate courts on how the controversial judge had been used in the past by anti-democratic forces to endanger democracy and engage in deleterious miscarriage of justice. “My Lord, you have a duty to ensure that no Judge under your watch is enlisted into this diabolical act by any rampaging anti-democratic elements. The embarrassing incidents currently playing out on our National Judicial horizon, with several judicial officers, including serving justices of the Supreme Court enmeshed in corruption scandals and indictments by agencies of the Federal Government because they had refused, at one time or the other, to serve the interests of the APC in matters pending before their Lordships, have kept us wondering whether the judiciary will succumb to these unwarranted harassments and intimidation meant to coerce it into submission and make this very important and indispensable Third Estate of the realm subservient to the wishes, whims, and caprices of the executive and political desperados.” Oni, Fayemi deny allegations However, the duo of Fayemi and Oni dismissed the allegations, noting that they would not engage in any act capable of ridiculing the judiciary. Fayemi, in a statement by his spokesman, Yinka Oyebode, said: ‘’It would appear, Governor Fayose wakes up daily in search of new controversies and making one spurious allegation after another. And it does not really matter to him whether such allegations are reasonable, logical or sensible. This allegation is not only irresponsible, but unfair to the two former governors of the state. ”And one is not surprised at this, because under Fayose, falsehood has been elevated to the level of statecraft, sustained by machinery of state.” In a similar statement, Oni’s Media Aide, Mr. Ayo Akinyemi, said: “Fayose himself knows that no judiciary can remove him now because he enjoys immunity until the expiration of his tenure on October 15, 2018. He can only be investigated, so what is Fayose talking about? Perhaps Fayose is afraid of facing the law after his immunity might have expired next year and that is why he is labouring now to spill the beans in anticipation of his doom. He is a drowning man trying to clutch the last straw and smear anybody. In a normal setting, should he have contested for governorship in the first instance? This is a man having corruption cases hanging on his neck and was facing trial in the court.” Call for Fayose’s removal is ignorance — EKHA The Ekiti State House of Assembly has described those calling for the illegal removal of the State Governor, Mr Ayodele Fayose, from office as jesters who are also ignorant of the provisions of the constitution of Nigeria. The Assembly also said the people are jobless and are mediocre who are only being used by their pay masters who have been rejected in the polls by the people of the state. The members of the Assembly spoke through their Speaker, Rt Hon. Kola Oluwawole, in Ado-Ekiti yesterday. The lawmakers were reacting to a statement credited to a group, the Coalition for Good Governance and Anti-Corruption, which said in Abuja on Tuesday that Governor Fayose be removed from office.
