The Ekiti State All Progressives Congress (APC) Elders’ Forum has appealed to former Governor Segun Oni to withdraw the suit challenging the eligibility of governor-elect, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, for the July 14 governorship election.
The APC elders came out with the position at a meeting held, on Wednesday, in Igbara Odo, Ekiti South West Local Government Area, presided over by its Chairman, Chief George Akosile.
According to a communiqué issued at the end of the meeting, a copy of which was made available to newsmen, in Ado-Ekiti, on Friday, the APC elders said the withdrawal of the case by Oni and his group would facilitate an out-of-court settlement.
In the communiqué signed by Akosile and the Forum’s Secretary, Chief Abiodun Ajayi, the APC elders resolved to send a five-man delegation to Oni with a letter appealing for the withdrawal of the case.
The Ekiti APC Elders’ Forum also resolved to send a memo to Fayemi to reconcile the aggrieved (Oni) group with a view to withdrawing the case from court and their inclusion in the forthcoming administration.
The communiqué reads,
“The Ekiti State APC Elders’ Forum at its meeting held on Wednesday, 29th August, 2018 under its Chairman, Asiwaju George Akosile at Igbara Odo Ekiti, having reviewed the various steps taken by the Forum on the above subject matter including the following:
Sending of a five (5)-man delegation with a letter to Asiwaju Segun Oni appealing for the withdrawal of the case from the Court.
Invitation and meeting with the representatives of Asiwaju Segun Oni at Igbara Odo, Ekiti State.
Sending a memo to the Governor-elect as to reconcile the aggrieved group with a view to withdrawing the case from Court and their inclusion in the scheme of things in the forthcoming administration in Ekiti State, from our findings, the Elders’ Forum is aware that the case is still pending in the Federal High Court, Abuja.
“We hereby wish to appeal to Asiwaju Segun Oni and his group to withdraw the case from the Federal High Court, Abuja as to facilitate an out-of-court settlement in the interest of the APC Family in Ekiti State, in particular and Nigeria in general.”
The former governor is urging the court to nullify Fayemi’s candidacy on grounds that he (Fayemi) did not resign from his position as Minister of Mines and Steel Development 30 days before the APC primary.
Fayemi won the APC governorship primary held on May 12 in Ado-Ekiti, the state capital, by polling a total of 941 votes beating Oni, who scored 481 votes to the second place and 31 other aspirants.
Oni also dragged Fayemi to court on grounds that he was indicted by Ekiti State Judicial Commission of Inquiry set up by Governor Ayo Fayose and handed a 10-year ban from holding public office.
Oni, as the Claimant/Applicant filed a suit before a Federal High Court, Abuja presided over by Justice Nnamdi Dimgba. The suit is marked FHC/ABJ/CS/663/18.
Joined as Defendants/Respondents in the case are Dr. Fayemi, APC and Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The court on 20th August issued an ex parte order for substituted service on the defendants.
Justice Dimgba ordered:
“Upon the Motion Ex Parte dated and filed on the 9th day of August, 2018 praying for the following reliefs.
An order of substituted service of the Originating Summons and other processes in this suit on the 1st Defendant by substituted means, to wit; by delivering the processes to the Chairman, All Progressives Congress (APC), Ekiti State, the 2nd Defendant, at the party’s secretariat, No 156, Ajilosun Street, Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti State, or alternatively.
Service on the 1st Defendant by delivering of the said processes to the Administrative Officer of the JKF Centre, the operational office of the 1st Defendant.
Oni’s supporters said the court case was triggered by alleged non-inclusiveness, ostracisation, marginalization and demonstration of open hatred for them by Fayemi’s supporters.
Members of the Ekiti State House of Assembly have said they have confidence in the State governor, Ayodele Fayose.
The lawmakers also distanced themselves from the alleged plot to impeach the governor following the electoral victory of the All Progressives Congress candidate in the July 14 governorship election, Dr. Kayode Fayemi.
The Speaker of the House, Kola Oluwawole, had on Thursday raised the alarm over an alleged invasion of the Assembly premises by riot policemen in order to pave the way for the three APC members of the House to reconvene a week after the members had gone on recess.
He accused the APC lawmakers of forging the signature of the clerk, Mr. Tola Esan, in a letter purportedly written to request police protection.
But speaking after paying a solidarity visit to the governor on Friday, the Spokesperson for the Assembly, Dr. Samuel Omotoso, on behalf of the 23 members said they remained loyal to Fayose.
The chairman, House Committee on Information, said the Peoples Democratic Party lawmakers were fully in support of the move by the party’s candidate, Prof. Kolapo Olusola, to reclaim his mandate.
He said,
“We are here on a solidarity visit to the Governor and to show our displeasure to the stealing of the mandate freely given to Prof kolapo Olusola. We also want to use this medium to register our displeasure to the illegality being perpetrated by security agencies threatening to make the state ungovernable.
“As you can see, we are 23 members and 21 is present here. Mrs. Titi Owolabi is not here because she is bereaved, and one of us travelled overseas. We are 26 members; three are on the other side. We are united and irrevocably committed to the cause of Fayose.
“We are solidly behind him and our party the PDP. We support the decision of the party to go to court to retrieve the stolen mandate and also to tell the whole world that if 23 members are on the same page, we want to see how they want to use three members to perpetuate illegality in the state.
South South youth leader of All Progressives Congress (APC), Gabriel Idunseri, has urged the newly-elected governor of Ekiti State, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, to make employment and workers’ welfare his priorities when he assumes office.
He also lauded the National Chairman of the party, Adams Oshiomhole, whose emergence as the helmsman of the party, he said, contributed to the success of the party in the election.
In a statement in Benin, Idunseri said: “Victory is a pointer to the fact that Ekiti people had long missed you. And I urge you to use this victory to demonstrate, among others, that the act of governance goes beyond stomach infrastructure by paying workers’ salaries.
“It is my humble wish to the governor-elect, to rekindle his desires to arresting the army of youths in the state through massive youth employment and empowerment. And to also prioritize the payment of the workers’ salaries as soon as he hits the ground running. Because the outcome of this election is a prelude to the victory awaiting our party in the 2019 general election.”
The APC youth leader said with the experience in Ekiti, the party is ready to win more states in the South South
“This victory, coupled with the doggedness of Ekiti youths, should be seen as a wake up call to all the APC youths in the South South that with this style of doggedness and determination, other opposition states in the South South will be won by the APC in the next general election.
“Let me also congratulate a bridge builder, a prime mover, a political avatar and a perfect conciliator, our own eloquent and cerebral Oshiomhole, the national chairman of our great party, the APC for an impressive outing before, during and after the election in Ekiti state.
“To those that are aggrieved and dissatisfied with the outcome of the election, as we all know, an election is a process and not an event. I urge that you pursue your cause via legitimate means or humbly concede defeat and give peace a chance,” he said.
There were media reports on vote-buying by political parties during last weekend’s governorship election in Ekiti State. OLUWATOSIN ABODERIN and ONI FAVOUR spoke to a cross-section of people on their feelings about the issue.
MISS JULIET OGBORU
It was a mockery of our democracy and shows the insincerity of a government that came to power with a promise of fighting corruption. The electorate cannot really be blamed with a majority living below poverty line, living less than a dollar per day. They saw the opportunity and sold their votes to have a share of the national cake that has eluded them in the past four years, and which may still elude them for the next four years. The only way to stop this unholy trend is to empower, and educate the poor masses.
MR FOLARIN LOREMIKAN
The problem with vote-buying and selling is that the illiterates are not ready to learn, or understand the concept of good governance. Until they stop collecting bribes, this issue will go on for years.
MR ADEWALE ADEBOWALE
It shows that Nigerians have not still got a grasp of what democracy is all about. They have been indoctrinated into believing that good governance is for sale; that whoever has the largest funds should be voted into power. Unfortunately, this only emboldens the rulers to steal the more, after all, the citizens got what they voted for not just in Ekiti but all over Nigeria. Until those involved realise that selling their vote means selling their future, then the future cannot be secure.
MRS VICTORIA OJELEYE
I hate commenting when it comes to politics in this country. Vote-buying comes as a result of corrupt politicians and Nigerians who are so desperate to be paid peanuts. It was obvious the two parties in Ekiti did desperate things to get the votes for their own selfish interest. Until everyone wakes up, the same act will continue and no one would be able to stop it.
MR ADEBOLA OLANIRAN
It is nothing but corruption on the part of both the parties and the citizens involved; it gives rooms for bad leaders to emerge and whatever the government turns out to be is the fault of those who sold their votes because of money that won’t liberate them from poverty. Except this act stops, Nigeria will keep going in circle, it’s a red flag for our democracy.
MR LAWAL HABEEB
It’s a very ridiculous act. We had over 35 parties that contested, but only APC and PDP pulled substantial votes because of the act. The state government is owing workers seven months’ salary, but allegedly, could afford to pay voters N4,000 each to vote for them. The APC also allegedly paid people N5,000 to vote for them. Vote-buying has been rampant since the inception of democracy in Nigeria, but the Ekiti election only exposed it the more. Even the international observers said the elections was below international standard because of this degrading act of buying votes.
ORIOWO TEMITAYO
Buying of votes is a very annoying and it should be seriously frowned at. It has no other word than election rigging. Buying of votes should be eradicated completely because it gives the power to someone who can’t even accept defeat. It’s going to put us in a very compromising situation later when the wrong person wins.
MISS ALIMAT MAJOLAGBE
We should forget about the election in Ekiti. Whether it was rigged, or votes was bought, one of the candidates has emerged a winner. Let our focus be on the next election and what can be done to prevent corruption. I mean the big election which is the presidential election of 2019.
OLUWATOBI LAWRENCE
I have zero interest in politics, but buying votes is just a clear indication that Nigerians are not ready for change and they have no idea what democracy means. It’s very sad how people sell their votes during election. Honestly, if a candidate has to buy electoral votes, then he or she is not right for the position. The system is inadequate and flawed.
ORETADE AYOMIDE
Buying of votes is total corruption. This is due to mass poverty in the nation which is used to take advantage of the citizens. Instead of the normal way through campaign and manifestos, they now share money and all sorts of things. Through poverty, corruption will always evolve, but it’s not the citizens fault. Of course everyone needs money, if I were offered N5,000 just to vote, I will collect it and vote because with that money, as a student, it will help me in a lot of ways, not to talk of single women/widows or mothers, who have to feed their children. Even single parents, if offered that kind of money, can use it to do some things for the family.
AIGBO TITOBI
It’s total rubbish, but we can’t blame those selling their votes because they are not educated. They don’t know the power of their vote, where their votes can get to and what it can do for them.
Source
THE Ekiti State governorship election that held penultimate Saturday was not just a national disaster; it was also an international shame. It was everything an election should not be. Politicians were unabashedly dishing out money to electorate who unashamedly collected same to do the bidding of the politicians while security operatives conveniently looked the other way.
No less a medium than the BBC reported how Ekiti citizens scampered like chased hares to a particular place the Friday before the election to collect money meant to sway them to vote for a particular candidate. There were also reports of party agents paying voters who provided proofs of voting for their candidates.
The two leading political parties in the contest; the PDP and the APC, were particularly guilty of this charade. So, the Ekiti election was not a superiority fight of ideas on how to improve the lot of the people, neither was it a contest of visions to make Ekiti better. It was not also a contest between good and evil, it was simply a contest between evil and evil; it was a street fight between state and federal money.
How did we arrive at this sorry pass as a nation? How did we find ourselves in such a deplorable situation that electorate would gleefully sell their power to the highest bidder? What has happened to our pride as a people? While I know and concede that democracy is ultimately about gratification through its dividends, why do we as a people equate instant gratification with democratic dividends? When did we start seeing casting a vote as a meal ticket? When did we start seeing moneybags as our democratic saviours?
Methinks the ugly incidence in Ekiti State happened because politicians were goaded by desperation for power; they wanted power at any cost for its sake, while the electorate were driven by frustration fuelled by deprivation and poverty. Where the two hold sway, decency takes flight, rationality goes on vacation and the implausible is embraced.
When desperation meets frustration the common people become the victims because while the politicians eventually get what they want one way or the other, the people are left in the lurch to nurse their wounds and count their woes. This is because where prebendalism and pedestrianism are elevated to high heavens development is arrested and progress is only possible in the reverse.
Now, will an Aliko Dangote who has labored to build his business empire throw away his money like that because he wants political power? Will a Tony Elumelu, who knows what he had to go through to get to where he is, throw away his hard-earned money like the Ekiti politicians did just because he wants to win a political contest? The import of this is that our democracy will only throw up the worst amongst us as leaders and for as long as that is the situation, our glorious days shall always remain in the past.
What else can be expected in a country overseen by men of primordial greed? If we reduce our electoral contests to mercantilism, what stops drug barons, kidnap kingpins and armed robbers who have stockpiled money to team up and take over the government? Anyone who thinks that is farfetched may as well believe that Laos is the same thing as Lagos.
This slide should be arrested before it degenerates any further. We cannot just fold our arms as a people and allow men of uncontrollable lust for power to ruin our common patrimony. Every person of good conscience must speak against the unconscionable raid and rape that happened in Ekiti State.
According to our laws, vote buying is a criminal offence. So, why is no one taking any step to bring those affected to book, given the available evidence? Why is this conspiracy of silence? According to Professor Wole Soyinka, the man dies in him who keeps silent in the face of tyranny. Has the man died in every one of us? Are we so used to illegality that our sensibilities are no longer offended by brazen crimes? Or are we thinking that the pervasiveness of the electoral crime perpetrated by both the PDP and the APC legitimized it?
I think the first step in correcting this anomaly and checking it from spreading to other states is for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to cancel the election instead of chest-thumping and ‘self-congratulations,’ and disqualify the parties involved in voters’ inducement from a rescheduled election to serve as deterrent to others. Section 124 of Electoral Act (2010) stipulates that paying money to voters at any election attracts a fine of N500,000 or 12 months imprisonment or both.
The same section prescribes the same penalty for anyone who gets paid to vote one way or the other. This is an opportunity to try the efficacy of this provision. If we shut our eyes to this infraction, the leadership of our country would fall into wrong hands and we shall wake up one day to find out that we no longer have a country that is worth the name.
Posterity will not be kind to anyone who can do something about this situation but fails to do it. This is the time to arise and save Nigeria from imminent collapse. This is not the time for political correctness. Delay is dangerous.
Source
A Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Mallam Yusuf Ali, said the Peoples Democratic Party’s candidate in last Saturday’s governorship election in Ekiti State, Prof. Kolapo Olusola, has asked him to lead his legal team to challenge the victory of Governor-elect, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, at the election tribunal.
Olusola, who lost the election to Fayemi, the candidate of the All Progressives Congress, according to the results released by the Independent National Electoral Commission, has vowed to challenge the poll outcome.
Fayemi, a former governor of the state, defeated Olusola in 12 out of the 16 local government areas of the state, polling 197,459 votes while Olusola scored 178,121 votes.
Ali told COLOSSUS GISTS on Friday that he had accepted to lead other senior lawyers to reclaim Olusola’s mandate.
The senior advocate however said he would need to discuss details of the brief with his client to know the grounds upon which the candidate was contesting the poll results.
Ali added that he would not be able to give an accurate figure of other lawyers that would join him in the legal battle against the APC candidate.
He said,
“I have just been contacted to represent the PDP (at the tribunal). The (legal) team is just being put together; so, I don’t know the number of SANs and other lawyers that will work with me yet because it is the client that will determine who they want to bring on board.
“On the grounds of the petition, I was just briefed (to take up the matter); we would need to engage in further discussions before I will know exactly what is involved.”
Tribunal constituted before election –A’court
Meanwhile, the three-man panel for the Ekiti State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal has been set up to sit on the disputes arising from the July 14 governorship election in the state, COLOSSUS GISTS learnt.
The President of the Court of Appeal, Justice, Justice Zainab Bulkachuwa, is empowered to constitute the election petitions tribunals for governorship as well as for state and National Assembly elections.
The Head, Media and Publicity Unit of the Court of Appeal, Mrs. Sa’adatu Musa, responding to an inquiry by COLOSSUS GISTS on Saturday, said the tribunal for the Ekiti State governorship election was constituted two weeks before the election held on July 14.
“The Ekiti State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal was set up two weeks before the election,” Musa said in a text message in response to one of our correspondents’ enquiry.
Section 133 (3)(a) of the Electoral Act provides that the tribunal “shall be constituted not later than 14 days before the election.”
The registry of the Ekiti State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal was said to have been opened in Ado-Ekiti, the state capital, one week after it was constituted.
By virtue of Section 134(1) of the law, an election petition to challenge the validity of an election must be filed within 21 days after the date of the declaration of results.
“An election petition shall be filed within 21 days after the date of the declaration of results of the elections,” the law states.
With the result of the election declared one week ago, it implies that aggrieved persons have only two weeks left within which to file their petitions before the tribunal to challenge the outcome of the poll.
Section 134(2) of the Electoral Act provides that “an election tribunal shall deliver its judgment in writing within 180 days from the date of the filing of the petition.”
Olusola had, on Sunday, alleged that he was robbed of victory in an election he claimed to have received over 70 per cent of the votes, having won in almost all the 16 local government areas in the state.
At a press conference after INEC declared Fayemi the winner on Sunday, the PDP candidate, who is the deputy governor of the state, alleged that security agencies threw all caution to the wind by taking sides with the APC and Fayemi.
He accused security agencies of not only supporting but also supervising the indiscriminate arrest of PDP leaders and agents while also harassing voters on a massive scale, especially in Ado Ekiti, Ikere and other places.
He equally alleged that security agencies gave tacit and active cover for thugs imported into Ekiti by the APC to snatch ballot boxes, create confusion, cause mayhem, and drive away voters in PDP strongholds.
“INEC, on its own part, reneged on its promise to have results counted, declared and pasted on the wall of each polling station. There was nowhere INEC transmitted results from the polling centres as earlier promised.
“Ballot boxes were illegally moved to INEC offices while our agents were disallowed from following the process,” he stated.
Source
PUNCH
Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose, has declared that what he called ‘the Edo State rigging template’ which the All Progressives Congress (APC) National Chairman, who is a former governor of Edo State, Adams Oshiomhole, plans to use during the July 14 governorship election in Ekiti State would fail.
The governor, who spoke in Ado-Ekiti, through his Chief Press Secretary, Mr Idowu Adelusi, also dismissed a statement credited to Oshiomhole, that the PDP is jittery about the coming election.
“Oshiomole’s secret plan to use his fraudulent Edo template in Ekiti will never work and it will attract injurious consequences. This is because Ekiti people are resolutely determined to resist rigging right on the spot.
He also dismissed the APC’s allegation that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), rigged out the All Progressives Congress (APC), candidate, Dr. Kayode Fayemi in 2014, noting that the election was free and fair as attested to by both local and international observers.
He said,
“If Adams Oshiomhole still has problems with that election, he should address his misgivings to the US and the international community. Besides, the APC challenged the election up to the Supreme Court but lost. Is Adams Oshiomhole disputing and despising the highest court of the land? It must be noted that he himself became governor by the supreme court judgment”, he said.
Fayose added,
“The PDP is raising the alarm because of tell-tale signs that the APC and Fayemi are plotting to rig the election. The statements by top APC leaders including its former chairman, John Odigie-Oyegun that they must capture Ekiti, by all means, are very instructive in this regard.
“Nigerians witnessed the blatant rigging of Ondo and Edo governorship elections by the APC. In Ondo, it was shameless vote buying. In Edo, they stopped vote counting when it was clear PDP was winning and changed the results overnight. Seeing these, who will ask us to stay stupid?
“Adams Oshiomhole was the mastermind of Edo rigging. He is only calling Fayose the name that rightly belongs to him (Oshiomhole),” he said and accused Oshiomhole of double standards and colluding with former President Olusegun Obasanjo to enrich himself at the expense of Nigerian workers, while he was President of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC).
“In case Adams Osh- iomhole does not know, his records of double-dealing and collusion with ex-President Obasanjo, as NLC President while deceiving workers and the suffering masses are in the public domain.
“This fake comrade hobnobbed with Obasanjo in the night but came out in the day to deceive workers with empty rhetoric. In the end, Obasanjo hiked fuel price many times under Adams Oshiomhole’s nose.
“Nigerians have not forgotten the poor widow, he told to go and die. This contrasts sharply with Fayose’s empathy for the poor and the down-trodden. Has Oshiomhole at any time spoken against the murderous herdsmen even when they killed his people in Edo state?”
Fayose also vowed that the Ekiti State Anti Open Grazing Act has come to stay, saying,
“We sound it loud and clear that we will not abrogate our anti-grazing law, the same way we will resist APC agenda to take Ekiti by force by manipulating the coming election.
“APC is factionalized right under Oshiomhole’s nose. If he does not consider that enough trouble, he will meet his Waterloo in Ekiti come July 14 when Ekiti people will seal his running mouth for him”, Fayose said.
Ahead of Saturday’s governorship election in Ekiti, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), on Monday assured the electorate that their votes would count.
Yakubu spoke at a stakeholders meeting held in Ado-Ekiti which had in attendance some of the gubernatorial candidates and their party officials.
He said the commission had trained all the ad hoc staff required for the election while it had made adequate arrangements for the delivery of personnel and materials to all polling units.
”I wish to assure you that the choice of who becomes the next governor of Ekiti State is strictly in the hands of Ekiti people
"Please, take my words; your votes will count, only the choice made by the Ekiti people will determine the outcome of the election.
”We have listened to the views and concerns expressed by different political parties and their campaign organisations.
“Please note that the commission would not take any action to the advantage or disadvantage of any political party or candidate.
”Be assured that no election material will be tampered with; if anything, we have introduced additional safeguard measures of transparency to protect the integrity of our manual and electronic processes as well as procedures, ” he said.
The INEC boss added that three National Commissioners and five Resident Electoral Commissioners had been deployed in the state.
Also speaking, the Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, said the Force had put in place adequate security measures to tackle those who may want to disrupt the exercise.
Idris said the a security cordon was in place to check intrusion from the neigbouring states of Kogi, Osun, Ondo, Oyo and Kwara.
He warned that anyone caught fomenting trouble in any part of the state would be made to face the consequences no matter how highly placed.
Idris also warned politicians and their followers against attempting to bribe any of the police officers on election duty, saying adequate arrangements had been made for their welfare.
”Don’t arm your thugs, don’t wear party insignia to voting venues, don’t blow siren, don’t ignore restriction order on human and vehicular movements, don’t bribe any policeman.
“Don’t attempt to steal votes or manipulate the process. Whoever that does any of these will be made to face the consequences,’’ he said.
NAN reports that high point of the event was the signing of a peace pact agreed to by the candidates.
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