Still More Problems As Fayose's Petition To Stop Impeachment Declined

A Federal High Court in Abuja again declined petitions by Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State to stop the impeachment proceedings initiated against him and his deputy, Kolapo Olusola.

Justice Ahmed Mohammed, during the Thursday’s proceedings, delivered three bench rulings, two of which rejected Fayose’s petitions to halt the impeachment proceedings.

The court after rejecting Fayose’s ex parte application for interim injunction on April 8, 2015, again refused to grant same when another request for it was made on Thursday.

The court also refused to grant a separate prayer made by Fayose’s counsel, Ahmed Raji (SAN), for an order directing parties to maintain the status quo.

The attempts made by Raji to obtain an order stopping the impeachment moves were resisted by the embattled Speaker of the House of Assembly, Adewale Omirin, who was represented by his counsel, Terence Vembe.

Vembe had appeared in court in response to an order of the court made on April 8, 2015, directing Omirin and other defendants in the suit to show cause why the impeachment moves should not be stopped by the court.

Rather than granting the order of injunction ‎during the previous proceedings, Justice Mohammed had ordered the defendants in the suit, including Omirin of the All Progressives Congress, to appear in court on Thursday to show cause why the court should not grant the plaintiffs’ prayers.

Apart from Omirin, other defendants in the suit, who were all ordered to appear in court on Thursday, are the Inspector General of Police, Suleiman Abba; the Independent National Electoral Commission, and the Chief Judge of Ekiti State, Justice Ayodeji Daramola.

But only Omirin and INEC were represented by their lawyers on Thursday. Both the Inspector-General of Police and the Chief Judge of Ekiti State did not send lawyers to represent them in court.

‎Vembe argued that the service through a publication in Tribune newspaper of Saturday, April 11, the day governorship and House of Assembly elections held nationwide and as a result of which movements were restricted across the federation, was incompetent.

But Raji urged the court to overrule Vembe‎ as he could not canvass any argument on the issue of service orally without filing any paper to back it up.

In his ruling, Mohammed sustained Raji’s objection to Vembe’s argument.

But Vembe further argued that despite the court’s earlier order directing his client to appear in court on Thursday, he was still within time to show cause why the injunction sought by the plaintiffs should not be granted stating that by virtue of ‎the rules of the Federal High Court, his client was entitled to at least three days to respond to an order to show cause.

He added that the service, having been effected on the day of elections, which was deemed as a public holiday, the service was only effective from the next working day which was Monday, April 13.

He argued further that the rules excluded the day of service from the counting, and thus his client’s time would start running from Tuesday, April 14.

‎Raji objected to this argument citing Order 48 Rules 3 of the Federal High Court Rules.

But the judge in the second ruling agreed with Vembe that the day the order was published was a public holiday and the publication ought not to have been done on that day.

POLITICS: Tinubu Is Treacherous , Fayose Warns North

Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose, has accused a former Lagos State governor, Bola Tinubu, of treachery , saying, “The North should know that Tinubu’s support for (Muhammadu) Buhari is a Greek gift.”
Mr. Fayose described the former governor as a politician who would sell out anyone to achieve political gains. He said Mr. Tinubu was not honest in his support for the Mr. Buhari, the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC.
“Knowing Buhari’s age, state of health and mental capability, Tinubu is only using him to achieve his target of high-jacking power from the North,” the controversial Ekiti governor said
Speaking through his Special Assistant on Public Communications and New Media, Lere Olayinka, Saturday, Mr. Fayose said, “A man who could sell out his own party candidates can sell out anyone given the right prize and political gains.
“Tinubu said with his own mouth at Onikan Stadium, Lagos on Saturday that he was instrumental to the victory of President Goodluck Jonathan in the 2011 general elections.
“He said: “In 2011, I helped Jonathan become President because he made us believe he was a breath of fresh air.”
The governor added that the implication of Mr. Tinubu’s statement was that he sold out the Action Congress of Nigeria, presidential candidate, Nuhu Ribadu, in 2011.
Mr. Fayose said Mr. Tinubu did the same thing to former Vice President Atiku Abubakar under the Action Congress in 2007.
“That to me is treachery and on this issue of Buhari and the March 28 presidential election, I am saying again that the North should beware!” Mr. Fayose said. “The North should know that Tinubu’s support for Buhari is a Greek gift. Tinubu only wants to corner the economy of Nigeria, using Buhari because he knows that he (Buhari) is weak and even at 41, his military government was ran by his deputy, Tunde Idiagbon.
“Therefore, now that the Almighty Allah has made Tinubu to confess that he traded off Ribadu in 2011, I am calling on our brothers and sisters from the North to beware of this political mercenary.”

2015 Polls: Fayose's Plan To Arrest Ekiti APC Leaders Exposed

The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ekiti State has raised the alarm over alleged plan by Governor Ayodele Fayose to arrest the party leaders before presidential election slated for March 28, 2015.
A statement by Publicity Secretary, Taiwo Olatubosun, said the party had discovered that the governor’s plot to use trumped-up charges to incarcerate the leaders to take them out of circulation in order to cripple the party’s mobilization efforts‎ for victory.
He said to achieve the plan, thugs in police uniforms would be unleashed on the opposition to cripple mobilization of voters and create fears in the minds of APC members to enable PDP have a field day during the elections.
“After it became clear that soldiers would no‎t be allowed to be deployed for the polls, PDP leaders in Ekiti State have opted for the police. They have discovered that the fake army uniforms they sewed would be useless and they have started sewing police uniforms for their operation,” Olatubosun explained.
He added that the young men in six 18-seater buses imported into the state at night about three weeks ago with military uniforms in their luggage were still the same personnel PDP wanted to use for the operation, including invading the polling booths to destroy results not favourable to PDP.
Reminding the governor that he does not have monopoly of violence, the APC spokesman said party members would use all legal means, including civil actions, to defen‎d their votes against any invaders on election day.
“We want to send a strong warning to Fayose that it is not going to be business as usual this time around. He did his worst during the last governorship election‎ when the Nigerian Army personnel deployed to Ekiti State helped him to supervise election rigging. Details of the criminal conspiracy are being heard around the world over that despicable act. We have learnt our lessons and he should be told that APC members are prepared for the worst of his plans.
“We will never get ourselves involved in criminalities but we will defend our votes by all means legal and civil. Let Fayose know that as he is planning for his rigging, we are also planning to defend our votes. If he believes he can’t survive without bending the law, we will show him that upholding the law by defending our votes remains the only way to make democracy work,” Olatubosun said.
He urged the police authorities not to be compromised, saying that siding with a party in political contest was a recipe for the break down of law and order.
“The filthy activities of the Nigerian Army in the last election have incensed Nigerians to take their fates in their own hands on matters of electoral contests. If anybody feels he can use the police to manipulate these elections, that person should be prepared to confront the anger of the masses.
“We therefore warn the governor against any plan to‎ rob Ekiti people at the polls. We call on the security agencies to rein in the governor against any nefarious activities while we call on our members to be vigilant and be ready to defend their votes during election.
“We also say in clear terms that APC members will resist illegal arrests being planned by PDP leaders. Ekiti State is not a jungle for all illegal plans by PDP. For the first time since Fayose has been riding rough-shod on the APC members and Ekiti people in general, our people armed with the law of Nigeria will ‎vehemently resist any plan to constrict their voting right to elect leaders of their choice,” Olatubosun said.