Ekiti
State Governor Ayo Fayose has described moves to impeach him by 19 of the 26
House of Assembly members as a ploy to distract him from concentrating on
governance.
Fayose said the people would defend his mandate against
those he described as political usurpers whom they had rejected twice in the
last nine months.
Speaking through his Special Assistant on Public
Communications and New Media, Lere Olayinka, the governor 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.
He also called on members and supporters of the Peoples
Democratic Party (PDP) 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 4, 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.”
“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.
“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 Muhammadu Buhari.
“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.”
Minister of State for Works, Prince Dayo Adeyeye has
described the impeachment notice as a “political comedy”.
The minister, in a statement, said “posting notice of
impeachment of a 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 Muhammadu Buhari should call members of APC to order so that
they don’t by their desperation for power in Ekiti State truncate democracy in
Nigeria.
He said it was disheartening that APC members in the
state were capitalising on Buhari’s victory to cause crisis in the state,
adding: “If President Goodluck Jonathan and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)
had behaved the way APC people are behaving in Ekiti State now, the country
would have been in chaos by now.”
Adeyeye, who described the purported impeachment notice
as “laughable”, said legislative businesses are conducted inside the
hallowed chamber of the House of Assembly, not online.
He said: “Is it online that lawmakers sit to move motion
for impeachment, adopt the motion and serve impeachment notice?
“Dr Adewale Omirin, who signed the purported impeachment
notice as Speaker of the State House of Assembly is in court, challenging
his impeachment and if he is still the Speaker, what then is he
challenging in court?
“Also, the online notice of impeachment was dated March
9, 2015 and the governor was given seven days to respond to the allegations
purportedly made against him. So, what has happened since March 16, 2015 that
the seven days ultimatum ended?”
The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Ado-Ekiti Branch, has
advised political gladiators in the state to tread cautiously.
The branch chairman, Dr. Foluke Dada, urged the PDP and
the APC to advise their members to exercise restraint and give peace a chance.
She expressed regret that lack of political tolerance
among the two leading parties is causing tension in the state.
The Ado-Ekiti NBA chair promised that the lawyers’ body
would continue to work with major stakeholders, the police and all political
interests to ensure that the Ekiti project succeeds.
Dada called on the state chapter of the Judiciary Staff
Union of Nigeria (JUSUN) to suspend its strike so that all pending matters
affecting the state could be adjudicated upon in the interest of all.
Source: The Nation
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