Ekiti State Governor, Mr. Ayodele Fayose, has accused his immediate
predecessor, Dr Kayode Fayemi, of plotting a return as the state governor through the back-door.
The governor said that Fayemi was plotting to achieve the objective by arm-twisting the Supreme Court to review its judgment of April 14, 2015, which validated the
governor’s election in the June 21, 2014 governorship election.
Fayose declared: “If Fayemi is interested in governing Ekiti State again, he should seek power through the ballot box and not through the backdoor.”
Addressing journalists in Ado-Ekiti on Monday, April 2, 2017, Fayose recalled his press briefing of January 5, this year, in which he
raised similar alarm.
He said, “When we exposed them then, they pulled
their punch; now, information at our disposal is that they are at it
again.”
He alleged that Fayemi was already claiming that he had the backing of
three newly appointed justices of the Supreme Court, the Department of
State Services (DSS) and other top organs of the federal government to
force the Supreme Court to review its judgment on the Ekiti State 2014
governorship election.
“We are not unmindful of the allegation made by a Supreme Court Judge,
Justice Sylvester Ngwuta, that the Minister of Transportation and former governor of Rivers State, Hon. Rotimi Amaechi, begged him to ensure that my election was set aside and another election ordered for his friend, Fayemi, to contest. “Curiously, that grievous allegation was ignored by the powers that be.
“If Fayemi could try using Amaechi to approach Supreme Court justices to procure black market judgment then, nothing stops him from trying to do same now that it is very clear that he can never achieve his ambition to be Ekiti governor again through the votes of the people and we urge Nigerians to take note.”
He said that the renewed efforts were consequent upon the brick-walls he (Fayemi) met on his plan to contest the 2018 governorship election as
APC candidate, adding, “Having realised how difficult it will be
for him to clinch APC ticket not to even talk of winning the election proper, Fayemi has opted to seek power through the backdoor.”
The governor said, “Fayemi and his cohorts are even boasting that they are only putting pressure on the new Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Walter Onnoghen, to join them in the devilish plot.
“It was in furtherance to this plot and the assurances that he may have gotten that Fayemi said in an interview published in Thisday newspaper of Sunday, March 26, 2017 that rather than joining a ‘so-called governorship race’, his preoccupation was to get to the root of what actually transpired in Ekiti on June 21, 2014, stressing that ‘it is too early to start talking about 2018 governorship race when there is still unfinished business.’ “The question is; what unfinished business was he talking about in an election that he lost clearly? What unfinished business does Fayemi have with an election that I won fair and square, defeating him in all the 16 local governments of the state, including his home town of
Isan-Ekiti?
“Mind you, that June 2014 election was the second time I would be
trouncing an incumbent governor, the first being in 2003 when I
defeated the sitting Alliance for Democracy (AD) governor, Otunba Niyi
Adebayo.
“As I address you today, there
is credible information that Fayemi has provided fund for the filing of the matter at the Supreme Court and he has assured his loyalists in the APC in Ekiti State that the Presidency and a section of the
judiciary, especially the newly appointed Supreme Court justices are in total support of the plot to remove me at all cost.
“It is however my advice that the Supreme Court and indeed the entire judiciary should be mindful of this banana peel coming from the same people who orchestrated the DSS invasion of judges residences in the
night just because they refused to assist them to perpetrate
injustice.
“This is more so that Fayemi and his collaborators are not unaware
that Order 8, Rule 16 of the Supreme Court expressly stated that the court shall not review its judgment once giving, except there was a clerical mistake or slip.
“They are also aware of the position of the Supreme Court judgment on
Andy Uba that there must be an end to litigation, a position also
affirmed in the case of Prof. Steve Torkuma Ugba vs. Gebriel Torwua Suswam.
“Most importantly, in Segun Oni vs Fayemi, he (Fayemi) was a
beneficiary of the suis generis (time bound) nature of election matter and the matter becoming functus officio once judgment is delivered by the final court as provided by the Electoral Act, and sane minds
should wonder what magic he intends to perform by going to the Supreme
Court on an election matter already determined at the final court, if
not that he may have indeed gotten the assurance of the powers that
be.
“One is therefore concerned that people who go about parading
credentials as democrats will be so vicious that they won’t accept defeat, close to three years after they lost an election even in their
own family house.
“We are therefore alerting Nigerians once more of this plot coming from Fayemi and his APC people who have proven over time that they are bad losers and will never respect the will of the people.
“The fact that I have more or less become the opposition last-man standing should not be made to become the reason an avoidable banana
peel will be placed on the path of the Supreme Court and I urge our
Supreme Court justices to be mindful of being rubbished by desperate
politicians.
“If they are worried about my stance on national issues, they should
do things differently in the interest of Nigerians that are hungry and
suffering under the yoke of bad governance of the APC.
“However, let me state expressly that Fayemi and his collaborators
will fail. They failed before, they will fail again. The harder they
come against me, the harder they will fall. “Another governorship
election in Ekiti is around the corner and if Fayemi is a democrat, he
should prepare to contest in that election rather than continue to
shop for ‘Oluwole’ and ‘Jankara’ judgment that will return him to
office through the back door.
“Fayemi and his backers in Abuja must be reminded that Ekiti people
are united behind me and will fight him and his cohorts with the last blood in our veins. The power of the people is mightier than ‘Federal
might’ If they dare Ekiti, they will meet their nemesis. If they do not retreat and put an end to their diabolical plots, Ekiti will be their Waterloo.
“Finally, let me reiterate that I have an unflinching confidence that
the Supreme Court will not debase itself. On the 2014 Ekiti
governorship election, the apex court has spoken and it has spoken so
clearly. Day-dreamers like Fayemi can continue to hallucinate. As for me and the Ekiti people, our focus is on the 2018 governorship
election. By God’s grace and the solid support and backing of Ekiti people, we will again give Fayemi and his political camp 16 – 0.”
