The Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose, has accused former governor Kayode Fayemi of plotting to manipulate Supreme Court Justices to remove him from office.
The governor said the new plot was in furtherance to his earlier allegation raised that Fayemi, in cahoots with leaders and stalwarts of the All Progressives Congress in Ekiti and Abuja, were seeking to return to power through the backdoor, by enlisting a section of the Judiciary to revisit the 2014 governorship election in the state.
He referred to an interview published in a national newspaper, where Fayemi reportedly said 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 also quoted Fayemi as saying, “it is too early to start talking about 2018 governorship race when there is still unfinished business.”
Addressing journalists in Ado Ekiti on Monday, Fayose said Fayemi in the last few days had been boasting that the Supreme Court would be made to review its judgment of April 14, 2015, which validated his election.
“This was an election that was adjudged free, fair, and credible by both local and international observers, including the United States government. 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 APC ticket not to even 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 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.
“Fayemi and his cohorts are even boasting that they are only putting pressure on the new Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Walter Onnoghen to join them in the devilish plot.”
But in a terse reaction, the Special Assistant on Media to Fayemi, Olayinka Oyebode, said he would not dignify the ranting of Fayose with a response.
Fayose asked what unfinished business Fayemi was 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 governor, Otunba Niyi Adebayo.”
Fayose said credible information at his disposal confirmed that Fayemi had provided fund for the filing of the matter at the Supreme Court and he had 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 were in total support of the plot to remove him at all cost.
He advised the Supreme Court and the entire judiciary to 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.”
The governor said he was concerned that an 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 his 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 same now and we urge Nigerians to take note.
“We are therefore 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.
“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.”
Fayose, however, boasted that Fayemi and his backers would fail in their plot because he had the people behind him and that the Supreme Court will not debase itself.
“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.
“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.
“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.”