ToDAY EXCLUSive: Oni vs fayemi (who will take the day) All eyes are now set on the Supreme Court as it delivers judgment this Friday in the Ekiti governorship crisis, writes Toba Suleiman From a critical observation of litigations trailing the conduct of governorship elections in the political history of the country, it might be safe to conclude that Ekiti State has recorded the longest period in the pursuit of justice over electoral matters. This is so, in view of the fact that the electoral battle which began with the conduct of the 2007 governorship poll and spilled over to the 2009 rerun election in the state is yet to be over, as people anxiously await a verdict that will probably put an end to the dragging litigation. Former governor of the state, Mr. Segun Oni, whose election in the April 2007 governorship election was truncated by the verdict of the Court of Appeal sitting in Ilorin, Kwara State, on October 15, 2010, is currently at the Supreme Court, to ‘reclaim his mandate’ from the incumbent governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi. The Supreme Court judgment which is expected tocome up this Friday, May 31, after the appeal courtin Ado-Ekiti, struck out the prayers of the petitioner, would probably put a permanent seal on the struggle. Oni, a governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), in the appeal sought a reversal of his removal from office because the judgment was in flagrant violation of the rule of law. But, the appeal court struck out the case on the basis that the court could not reverse itself. It also added that the issue of bias raised by Oni in his appeal should have been raised earlier during the trial. Not satisfied, Oni headed to the Supreme Court, where he is seeking an order to set aside the decision of the lower court delivered on Monday 27, February, 2012, as well as an order setting aside the judgment of court of appeal, Ilorin, delivered on October 15, 2010 which nullified his election as the governor of Ekiti State. In addition, he also prays an order directing the Speaker of the Ekiti State House of Assembly totake over the governance of Ekiti State pending the hearing and determination of the appeal. The Appellant, consequent on the above, also seeks the nullification of the judgment of the panel constituted and presided over by Justice Isa Ayo Salami, for breaching his right to fair hearing on the basis of likelihood of bias. According to him, by the provisions of Section 22 of the Supreme Court Act, Cap S15 of the laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004, “The Supreme Court generally shall have full jurisdiction over the whole proceedings as if the proceedings had been instituted and prosecuted as a Court of first instance. Whichever way the axe falls on Friday, it would be on record that given this peculiarity, Ekiti State is one of the states to fully test the strength of the legal process across the whole strata of the legal cadre. Whether or not the judgment goes in the way of the petitioner, a point has been made. Expectedly, however, there are two sides to a coin. While the PDP members are hopeful that the ruling would go their way, the ruling Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) forbade any such thing and described the PDP expectation as building a castle in the sky. But the recriminations that the issue had elicited have constituted concern for the people of the state. Politicians in the state have started to beat the war drums, throwing allegations and counter-allegations to each other of attempts to create chaos ahead of the Friday’s Supreme Court judgment. It is important to put on record that since the coming on board of the Fayemi administration on October 16, 2010, the state has enjoyed relative peace and tranquility, while government has focused on the development of the state across the16 council areas of the state. But the serenity since enjoyed has broken down in the last few weeks. Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Mr. Tunde Adeleke, who fired the first salvo, said the party had uncovered plots by some members of the opposition to start attacking the personalities of top government officials in the State. According to the party’s spokesman, the plot was hatched at a meeting held at the residence of a former National Assembly member from Ekiti North Senatorial District by chieftains of the PDP, where they planned to unleash terror and cause mayhem in the State. “They wanted to do this in cahoots with their willing tools that are ready to play the spoiler, in order to cause a state of emergency to be declared in our peaceful state so that the Fayemi administration will be distracted and truncated. “They planned to physically attack and if possible, assassinate top members of the government while others would be blackmailed in a well-orchestrated plan to cause fear, disaffection and division among top officials of the government. Part of this plan is to print and paste posters of such officials portraying them as planning to contest for the gubernatorial position of the state in order to cause disaffection within government and the party. “The transformation of Ekiti State by the Fayemi administration is a miracle to members of the opposition who could not do same when they had the opportunity to govern the State albeit illegally. The opposition is so pained by the good works of the Fayemi administration that it has become a big problem convincing Ekiti people not to support thegovernment that has so much transformed their lives; therefore, they have resorted to personality attacks and lies,” he said. But this alarm had raised the curiosity of many. Even, the security operatives could not provide answers the alarm raised by the ruling party. This is more so, that in some months past, such neithercame from the ruling party nor the opposition. Sensing the trend, the PDP stoutly defended itself and called for the intervention of the security operatives to investigate the allegation raised by ACN. The PDP insisted that the State Security Service should be allowed to investigate the matter on alleged compromise of the police in the State, which the party alleged was working in connivance with the ruling party. Director of Communication of the PDP, Chief Gboyega Aribisogan, countered that it was the ACN that was raising thugs from each ward to create confusion before the May 31 Supreme Courtjudgment to misdirect the Justices on the matter. Aribisogan maintained that the Police Commissioner in the State, Mr. Sotonye Wakama, ought to have informed the party of the allegation raised by ACN, having been earlier informed by theruling party before going to the press, saying it was a confirmation that the police have been compromised. Consequently, the PDP filed a petition signed by the party’s Secretary, Dr. Tope Aluko and addressed to the Commissioner of Police, to investigate the alleged plan by the party to manufacture/print PDP uniform/attire across the state. It also alleged that the government had directed some political office holders to paste posters of fake ACN gubernatorial aspirants all over the State to dent the image of PDP and create impression that the party is planning to destabilise the State. The petition described this as the focus of ACN propaganda to destabilise the state, set a messageacross to the nation as if the state was on fire and pressurise the judiciary in a way to suggest that the judgment was known to be in favour of PDP. Describing the development as part of moves to destabilise the state, PDP called on the security operatives to investigate the ACN claims, and ensure that the state remains peaceful before, during and after the May 31, 2013 judgment. As the ding-dong affair continues, there is the need for politicians from both parties need to observe decorum in their activities and not throw the state into needless political upheaval. Observers therefore advised that the collective interest of the state should be overriding as against party or personal agenda.
Posted on: Fri, 31 May 2013 10:27:47 +0000
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