ADO EKITI – officers and men of the Ekiti State Police
Command have beefed up security network in Ado Ekiti and various parts of
the state following the impeachment threat by the 19 All Progressive Congress,
APC, lawmakers against the state governor, Mr. Ayo Fayose.
His words “Security personnel have been placed on alert while high
visibility patrol is being conducted around Ado Ekiti. We know the tension
generated must have caused some apprehension, but we are being proactive
because the security of lives and property and general peace of the people is
our topmost priority. We are leaving no stone unturned to ensure safety of our
citizens and for everybody to go about their normal business without fear or
harassment.”
The 19 APC lawmakers were said to have served notice of gross
misconduct against Governor Ayodele Fayose, but the governor claimed ignorance
over the letter, describing the APC lawmakers as jesters.
Omirin’s security detail restored.
In a sudden twist of fate, the Police authorities were, yesterday,
quoted as directing that the full security details of the factional Speaker of
the Ekiti State House of Assembly, Dr. Adewale Omirin, be restored with
immediate effect.
The development follows the restoration of the Department of State
Service, DSS, personnel attached to Omirin earlier in the day through a
directive said to have been issued from Abuja, according to a source close to
the Speaker.
It is expected that the Omirin-led lawmakers would hold a plenary
session at the Ekiti state House of Assembly on tomorrow, having
adjourned after their sitting last Thursday at the same venue.
The 19 All Progressives Congress lawmakers in the Ekiti State
House of Assembly had last week initiated moves that may lead to impeachment
proceedings against the embattled Governor Fayose.
The Speaker forwarded a notice of gross misconduct to the
governor, with a copy of the notice also being sent to his deputy, Dr. Olusola
Eleka.
But Fayose in his characteristic manner said the APC lawmakers should stop
acting like “jesters”, describing the purported impeachment notice as the “joke
of the century.” According to him, the script being acted by the APC is a
failed one because no one, no matter how highly placed, will be allowed to test
the will of the Ekiti people.
Offences levelled against Fayose
In the letter by the 19 lawmakers entitled, “Re: Notice of Allegations of Gross
Misconduct,” sent to Fayose, the APC lawmakers listed eight impeachable
offences against the governor.
The offences bordered on impunity, brigandage, stalking and other
constitutional breaches including alleged invasion of the House of Assembly
with thugs and miscreants, instigating an unconstitutional takeover of the
House by seven legislators to sit in contravention of Section 96(2) of the 1999
Constitution, and prevention of the 19 APC legislators from performing their
duties with the use of security agents and armed thugs.
Other allegations listed in the notice are: sponsoring an unlawful
impeachment process in the house, spending Ekiti State funds without the
requisite constitutional approval in contravention of the constitution and
running the government without legally constituted Executive Council in
contravention of Section 192(2) of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. They also
accused the governor of operating an illegal 2014 budget as well as sponsoring
and instigating illegal sitting of the House in contravention of Section 96(1)
of the Constitution.
Ekiti people will defend their mandate – Fayose
Meantime, Fayose was, yesterday, said to have described his governorship as a
mandate freely and wholeheartedly given by Ekiti people, saying; “Ekiti people
who are the owners of my mandate will defend it against political usurpers,
whom they had rejected twice in the last nine months.”
According to his Special Assistant on Public Communications and
New Media, Lere Olayinka, the governor also urged the Chief Justice of Nigeria
(CJN), Justice Mahmud Mohammed, to sustain his stand of not allowing the
use of the judiciary to change the outcome of elections.
Impeachment threat, a distraction, says Fayose
Fayose, who described the impeachment bid and Supreme Court
judgment being made by the All Progressives Congress (APC) as plots to distract
him from concentrating on governance and the coming Saturday’s House of
Assembly election, called on members and supporters of the Peoples Democratic
Party (PDP) in the State not to be distracted from their goal of delivering all
the 26 Assembly seats in the State to the party.
He said, “Sovereignty belongs to the people and the people of
Ekiti State on June 21, 2014, surrendered their sovereignty to me to be their
governor for four years. Instead of respecting the wish of Ekiti people, which
they again affirmed on March 28 and will further affirm on April 11, the
APC people that were rejected in two free and fair elections have been trying
all tricks to return to power through the back door. They filed several cases
in their bid to stop my inauguration as governor and even committed murder in
the process.”
Speaking further, Governor Fayose said, “The Speaker of the State
House of Assembly then, Dr Adewale Omirin, was assured of assuming office as
Acting Governor and that informed his non-attendance of my
inauguration, as he was still hoping that even on October 16, 2014, a
court order would be gotten to stop my inauguration. Their evil plots against
the mandate of Ekiti people failed then, but up to now, they are not relenting.
Today, though Omirin has been duly impeached, he still believes he can be
Acting Governor while Dr. Kayode Fayemi that was roundly rejected by Ekiti
people is also boasting that he will return to power through the
instrumentality of the court.
“However, let me warn the APC as a party to respect the wish of
Ekiti people as the PDP and President Goodluck Jonathan respected the wish of
Nigerians on the election of Major General Mohammadu Buhari (rtd). Any attempt
to undermine the sovereignty of Ekiti people, using whatever instrument will be
resisted by the people themselves because power belongs to the people and they
have handed it to whom they desire to exercise till October 16, 2018. The APC
gladiators in Ekiti should, therefore, emulate President Jonathan and the PDP
by waiting till 2018 to try their luck again.”
Adeyeye slams Ekiti APC lawmakers
Meantime, the Minister of State for Works, Prince Dayo Adeyeye, has warned the
All Progressives Congress (APC) and its members in Ekiti State to tread
cautiously so as not to endanger democracy in the country, saying; “posting
notice of impeachment of a State governor online when the House of Assembly
never sat to pass any Motion for Impeachment is not only ridiculous, but
criminal.” The minister said it was necessary that the President-Elect, Major
General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd) should call members of APC in Ekiti State to
order so that they don’t by their desperation for power in Ekiti State truncate
democracy on Nigeria.
Meanwhile,the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA), Ado Ekiti branch has
cautioned both members of APC and PDP not to cause breach of peace in the
state. According to the statement by the Ado Ekiti branch chairman, Dr Foluke
Dada, yesterday, the association urged all the stake hohders in the state to
intervene so that the state will not be turned into a theatre of war.
The NBA equally called judicial staff operating under the banner
of State Judiciary Staff Union (JUSUN) to suspend its current strike action so
that all pending matters affecting state matters could be adjudicated upon in
the interest of all.
Omirin insists there’s no hiding place for Fayose
Meanwhile the factional speaker, Dr. Omirin, last night insisted
that the move against the governor was not a joke saying that Governor Fayose
would soon realise that there would be no hiding place for him.
Insisting that the move against him was constitutional, the
speaker also dismissed the claims by the speaker of the G7 legislators, Dele
Olugbemi, saying that the governor and his appointed speaker were acting in
ignorance.
In a statement by the Special Adviser on Media to the Speaker,
Wole Olujobi, Omirin said Ekiti issue was a matter of rescuing democracy from
the gridlock of executive lawlessness and impunity into which the state had
been driven by the governor.
He said, “It will soon dawn on Fayose and his aides that the
matter at hand goes beyond exuberant media skirmishes that are being deployed
to rally support for the governor. Attention of the world has shifted to Ekiti
State following the leaked tape detailing electoral fraud perpetrated to give
Fayose victory.
After that, several issues in Ekiti State are being questioned
on the place of the constitution in nurturing democracy in the country, and as
responsible citizens, we must act right to make democracy work.”
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