From Wole Balogun, Ado-Ekiti
Ekiti Governor, Ayodele Fayose has alleged that Minister of Mineral Resources and Steel Development, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, has concluded plans to become governor of the state through the backdoor.
He said this at a press conference in Ado Ekiti, yesterday.
Fayose alleged that Fayemi has enlisted the support of three judges of the Supreme Court to reverse the judgment that validated his (Fayose) election as governor in June 2014 gubernatorial poll in his (Fayemi) favour.
The governor described the alleged plot as a plan to destroy the country’s democracy and urged “well-meaning Nigerians to prevail on Fayemi and his supporters in the All Progressives Congress (APC) to stop actions geared towards bastardising democratic process.
“Nigeria is for Nigerians and not for a political party. Today, it is APC, tomorrow, it will be another party in government. Recall that I addressed you on January 5, this year, about conspiracy by some selfish politicians and enemies of democracy, planning to get power through the backdoor after losing election in a popular mandate given to me to govern the people of Ekiti state.
“Three years after, it is shameful and surprising that a former governor of the state, knowing full well that he might not be able to secure the ticket of his party in 2018 poll, has resulted to backdoor approach; that they have concluded plans to go to court to reverse my election.
“When we exposed them then, they pulled their punch… Now, information at our disposal is that they are at it again. But, it is no longer news that Fayemi said they have enlisted the support of three new appointed judges of the Supreme Court, claiming that they obtained such commitment before the clearance. They are set to file and reverse the three year-old election by the Supreme Court; asking them to reverse themselves.
“An election result he conceded defeat publicly. This was an election that was adjudged free, fair, and credible by local and international observers, including the United States government and even recommended for subsequent elections.
“These renewed efforts are consequent upon the brick-walls he (Fayemi) has met on his plan to contest the 2018 governorship election as APC candidate. Having realised how difficult it will be for him to clinch the APC ticket, not to talk of winning the election proper, Fayemi has opted to seek power through the backdoor, claiming that he already has 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.
“It was in furtherance to this plot and the assurances that he may have gotten that Fayemi said in an interview in a national newspaper on 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.
He went further to state 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?”
But, Fayemi’s media adviser, Olayinka Oyebode, dismissed Fayose’s allegations.
He reiterated that Fayemi does not have any such intention.
defeating him in all the 16 local governments of the state, including his home town of Isan-Ekiti?
“No politician takes such development for granted. We all have intelligence reports. if Fayemi boasts that they have hand in the appointment of the new justice of the Supreme Court and he would do their bidding, do you expect me to take that statement lightly as a politician?
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 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 also concerned that allegation made by a Supreme Court Judge, Justice Sylvester Ngwuta, that the Minister of Transportation and former governor of Rivers State, Rotimi Amaechi begged him to ensure that Governor Fayose’s election was set aside and another election ordered for his friend, Fayemi to contest was ignored.
If Fayemi tried, using Amaechi to approach Supreme Court justices to procure black market judgment, then nothing stops him from trying to do the same now and we urge Nigerians to take note.
“We are alerting Nigerians once again 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.
“I am sure we have honourable men in the judiciary who would not support this illegality. 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.
“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.