Fayose, NBA ex-chief ask NJC to probe Ekiti crisis

SEQUEL to the alleged manhandling of a judge sitting over the Ekiti State post-election cases – the height of the crisis that have engulfed the state in the aftermath of the election - the Governor-Elect, Mr. Ayodele Fayose, Monday called on the National Judicial Council (NJC) to probe the entire issue.
   In an interview in Abuja, Fayose said that only a full probe into the matter would expose the truth. He also urged the NJC and Nigerians as a whole not to consider dispassionately all issues at stake to expose the truth, and be not swayed by “the propaganda launched by the All Progressives Congress (APC) on the crisis.” 
   Similarly, the former chairman of Kwara State chapter of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Rafiu Balogun, Monday sought prompt prosecution of the suspects recently linked with the assault on the High Court judge.
   Balogun told The Guardian in Ilorin that the kind of anarchy in Ekiti might soon become the order of the day in Nigeria if the suspects were not treated in accordance with the laid down rules and regulations of the judiciary.
   However, the Speaker of Ekiti State House of Assembly, Adewale Omirin, has described as spurious and baseless the statement credited to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) that he was interested in becoming the acting governor.
   The PDP Director of Media and Information, Mr. Gboyega Aribisogan, reportedly said that Omirin was clandestinely working with Governor Kayode Fayemi to ensure that Fayose is not sworn in on October 16.
   Aribisogan was said to have predicated the Speaker’s alleged underhand tactics to rock the boat on the fact that he would automatically become the acting governor as stipulated by the constitution in case of any vacancy at the executive level.
   Meanwhile, after three days of total lockdown, economic and commercial activities yesterday returned in the state capital, Ado Ekiti, as banks and markets opened for normal business.
   The state had been in crisis since last week following the invasion of courts by hoodlums and the assassination of former chairman of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), Mr. Omolafe Aderiye. 
   The PDP chieftain and close ally of Fayose was killed by unknown gunmen at Ijigbo Area of Ado Ekiti last Thursday, following which some youth trooped to the streets and destroyed property worth millions of naira.
   Feeling that the killing was politically motivated, the hoodlums razed the headquarters of the Kayode Fayemi Campaign Organization in the Ado Ekiti metropolis, among other property belonging to traders and individuals.
   Nevertheless, despite the seeming restoration of normalcy, heavily armed policemen are still stationed in buffer zones, including the old garage, Ojumose and Fajuyi in the capital city.
   According to Fayose, all reports about him causing troubles in the state are just part of a grand plan by the APC to cause crisis in the state to prevent his inauguration next month.
   “What I’m saying is that the National Judicial Council should launch a thorough probe into the happenings in Ekiti State Judiciary and through that the rot in the system will be exposed,” he said.
   “A lot of things are happening there and there are signs that some judicial officers are conniving with outgoing Governor Kayode Fayemi, and the APC. The current crisis is an agenda of the APC and their sole aim is to try and get through the back door what the people of the state did not give them on June 21 when they voted overwhelmingly for me and the PDP.
   “I did not and cannot slap a judge. I cannot slap a houseboy let alone a High Court judge, and I have utmost respect for judicial officers. The media propaganda that I beat up a judge is an APC agenda to portray me in bad light, having failed to take my mandate through the back door.
   “The Ekiti State Attorney-General, Wale Fapounda, has disclosed that he has spoken with the judge in question, and he spoke on Sunrise programme on Saturday morning on Channels TV, where he made it clear that the news that I slapped the judge was all lies.”
   Fayose added: “I did not enter Justice John Adeyeye’s court because I had no business to transact there. The tribunal venue, where I went to, is quite a distance from Adeyeye’s court. The pertinent question is, at what point did I meet him? Is it that the judge left his courtroom in his robe to face the so-called protesters? Investigation will reveal all this.
   “Up till now, nobody has been able to provide photo or video evidence that I slapped the judge. And the APC people should know that I will not succumb to blackmail to surrender the mandate freely given me by the people of the state.”
   The governor-elect noted that PDP leaders were aware of the various petitions written to the NJC by APC leaders in Ekiti, insisting that investigations would reveal the truth. He further alleged that the actions and utterances of Governor Fayemi in recent times showed collaboration with some judicial officers.
   “For the information of all, I am openly expressing my readiness to appear before the committee to be set up by the NJC, even after I must have been sworn in, to testify on the issue if needs be,” he said.
   “The whole issue, I can say with all intent, was part of a grand plan by the APC to cause mayhem and through it install the Speaker of Ekiti State House of Assembly as acting governor, which the people of Ekiti has seen through and are ready to stop at all cost.”
   On his part, the former NBA boss said he was only expressing a personal view on the development but believes the Ekiti example could scare litigants from courts and consequently engender chaos. He noted: “The Ekiti incident has sent a strong message to us that if a judge could be attacked, then lawyers are not immune to attacks as well.
   “Besides, it means that litigants will now be afraid to come to court for redress. What do these people want to turn our courts into? Court, anywhere in the world, is regarded as a place of honour. We must respect the judge. You don’t talk to a judge anyhow without being slammed with contempt.”
   Balogun added: “All of us need justice. Those assaulting the judge may also need the judge for protection tomorrow. So we need to bring the culprits to book if sanity must prevail in our judicial system.”
   He warned that if courts remain under lock and key as is presently in Ekiti, bail applications and urgent matters would suffer, and it would be injustice to suspects anxiously awaiting their fates before magistrates and judges.
   All the same, banks, other businesses, including commercial transport, which had since deserted the roads, have fully returned to work as at yesterday. Likewise, traders at the Erekesan Market in the heart of Ado Ekiti have commenced full business activities without apprehension.
   However, the dusk-to-dawn curfew imposed by Fayemi on Friday to forestall further breakdown of law and order is still in force, while people have substantially complied with the government’s directive.
   The Commissioner of Police, Mr. Taiwo Lakanu, had in a statement yesterday promised that the curfew would be enforced, warning residents of Ado Ekiti against flouting the order.
   In a statement by the state Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. Victor Babayemi, Lakanu also warned those without legitimate business in Ado Ekiti to stay clear or face the full weight of the law.
   For Omirin, the allegation against him is very unfortunate because he is not desperate to become acting governor or ever planned to stall Fayose’s swearing in under any guise.
   “This must have been a figment of the imagination of the PDP. I have never taken any step that could make anyone to accuse me of working with the executive to derail the transition,” he explained.
   “I am a politician who believes in the rule of law and the dictate of the constitution and nothing can be traced to me to suggest that I am eyeing the governorship in acting capacity. This allegation has confirmed that the PDP is jittery. It is afraid of its own shadow.
   “Nothing stops any of the parties to any election going to court to seek redress. It is part of the democratic process and we expect the PDP to be civil enough to subject itself to judicial scrutiny.
   The speaker, however, pleaded with indigenes to eschew violence and embrace peace for the state to remain united and strong for sustainable development. He further appealed to the Commissioner of Police, Mr. Lakanu, to ensure that the imposed curfew is strictly complied with, in order to restore peace and curtail violence.