Ekiti State Governor Ayodele Fayose and his deputy,
Kolapo Olusola, have raced to a Federal High Court in Abuja
to stop the 19 All Progressives Congress members of the
state House of Assembly from impeaching them.
But they met a brick wall as the judge, Justice Ahmed
Mohammed, turned down their request and granted only the
prayers contained in their ex parte application relating to the
service of the court processes on the defendants.
Fayose and Olusola, in the ex parte application, asked for
an interim order stopping the impeachment notice served
on them and the moves to remove them from office.
Rather than granting the prayers for interim injunction,
Justice Mohammed ordered the defendants in the suit,
including the Speaker of the House, Adewale Omirin, and
the Chief Judge of the state, Justice Ayodeji Daramola, to
appear in his court on April 16.
They are to show cause why the order of interim injunctions
being sought by the plaintiffs should not be granted.
Apart from Omirin and Daramola, the other defendants in
the suit are the Inspector-General of Police, Suleiman Abba,
and the Independent National Electoral Commission.
The plaintiffs, apart from Fayose and Olusola, are the
House of Assembly and Olugbemi Dele, who was appointed
by seven Peoples Democratic Party lawmakers as their
speaker.
Counsel for the plaintiffs, Ahmed Raji, had in the ex parte
application dated April 7 urged the court to set aside the
impeachment notice and restrain the defendants from
taking any further steps in that direction.
The lawyer argued that the impeachment notice signed by
Omirin amounted to impersonating the “incumbent speaker
(Dele).’’
He said, “The kernel of our complaint is that a former
speaker of the Ekiti State House of Assembly, in the person
of the 1st respondent (Omirin) is trying to impersonate the
1st plaintiff (Dele), who is the current speaker of the
parliament.”
Part of the orders sought by the plaintiffs are: “An
injunction restraining the 1st defendant (Dele) and other
errant members of the 2nd plaintiff (House of Assembly)
from further taking any step or engagining in unlawful
activities relating to the impeachment of Ayodele Fayose
and Kolapo Olusola as governor and deputy governor of
Ekiti State.
“An interim order of injunction restraining the Chief Judge
from taking any step or action in relation to the request of
the 1st defendant (Omirin) for the purpose of appointing a
panel of seven persons to investigate the purported
allegations of gross misconduct against Fayose and
Olusola.
“An interim order restraining the police from continuing to
abet, give cover, protection or lend credence to the activities
of the 1st defendant and other errant members of the 2nd
plaintiff for self-help in disruption of legislative proceedings
in the House of Assembly.
“An interim order setting aside the purported notice of
impeachment and all the steps taken by the 1st defendant
and other errant members of the 2nd plaintiff in relation to
the purported issuance and service of the notice of
impeachment for the purpose of commencing and
concluding impeachment proceedings against Fayose and
Olusola.”
The plaintiffs had urged the court to grant the prayers and
make the interim injunctions to subsist pending the
determination of their motion on notice for interlocutory
injunctions seeking the same set of prayers.
Raji urged the court to grant the prayers “in the interest of
justice, public order, peace and safety of the people of the
state.”
But the judge rather than granting the interim injunctions
ordered the parties to appear in court to convince him on
why the plaintiffs’ prayers should not be granted.
Justice Mohammed ruled, “The order is hereby made
directing the 1st to 4th defendants (Omirin, IG , INEC and
Ekiti CJ) to appear before this court on April 16, 2015 and
show cause why the interim order sought by the plaintiffs
via an ex parte motion dated April 7, 2015 should not be
made by this court.”
The court granted leave to serve Omirin and Justice
Daramola, who reside in Ekiti State, outside jurisdiction.
It also ordered that Omirin and the CJ be served through
advertisement in a national newspaper.
It also made a separate order that the CJ be served with
processes of court through the office of the Chief Registrar
of of the Ekiti State High Court.
In their main suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/302/2015, the
plaintiffs are seeking nine prayers among which is “an
order setting aside the purported notice of impeachment
and all steps taken by the 1st defendant (Omirin) with other
errant members of the 2nd plaintiff in relation to the
purported issuance and service of the said notice of
impeachment for the purpose of commencing and
concluding the impeachment proceedings against Fayose
and Olusola, except and until there is absolute compliance
with provisions of section 36(1) and section 188(1), (2), (3)
and (4) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).”
The move by the APC lawmakers to sack Fayose and
Olusola had led to mayhem in parts of the state on Monday
and Tuesday.
During protests on Tuesday by Fayose supporters, a man,
Modupe Olaiya, was shot dead in Efon Alaaye.
Olaiya’s death became a subject of controversy with
Fayose accusing the APC lawmakers being culpable in a in
a petition he sent to the IG.
“The APC lawmakers were escorted by five fully armed riot
policemen, who I later discovered were brought from
MOPOL 20 in Lagos State,” he added.
He listed the mobile policemen as Sgt Oyelakin Zacchaeus
(F/No 386073), Cpl Adewuya Clement (F/No 396903), Cpl
James Ogunji (F/No 386976), Cpl Ebute Michael (F/No
343469) and Cpl. Ibrahim Zock (F/No 235510).
Fayose urged Abbah to investigate the role of the policemen
in the whole saga.
He said, “To my surprise, instead of the police arresting the
lawmakers, they were allowed to return to Osogbo, Osun
State where they came from.
“As I write, the entire Efon Alaaye community is tense, with
the people expecting justice to prevail on the gruesome
murder of Modupe Olaiya.
“It is therefore on this note, and most importantly, the need
to restore the confidence of the people in the police that I
implore that you use your good offices to order a thorough
investigation into the murder.
“It is also important that the involvement of the above listed
mobile policemen is ascertained as they were not from Ekiti
State and were not deployed to escort the lawmakers to the
state by the state police command.”
Olaiya’s mother, Apeke, told journalists in company with
her daughter-in-law, Yinka, that one of the lawmakers killed
her son.
She said, “It (killing) happened at Fabo, at Efon Junction on
the way to Ijebu-Ijesha.
“They said he (lawmaker) was coming with some OPC
(Odua Peoples Congress) members from Lagos and they
made a detour in Osun State, but they were coming to Ekiti
through Ijebu-Ijesha.
“What I learnt was that when the convoy arrived at Fabo
Junction, they opened fire on the protesters who had
mounted a roadblock, claiming that that Efon people were
heady and stubborn.
“I was told that my son had hidden behind a car when
everyone else had scampered to safety. He was shot in the
back while crawling out of danger to the bush.
“The vehicle with which he was being taken to the hospital
ran out of fuel on the way, they continued with a
motorcycle, which also ran out of fuel at Adagba farm
settlement. They eventually got another motorcycle with
which they got him to Odufunke Hospital, where the doctor
had to call the police to ascertain his identity, having been
brought as a gunshot victim.
“While all these were going on, my son had started to foam
from the mouth and while they were trying to give him
blood, he gave up the ghost. His pregnant wife, Yinka, has
two children. I don’t know what to do now. Olaiya is my
fourth child and had been the sponsor of the family.”
She spoke at the Government House in Ado Ekiti.
But the APC lawmakers accused the governor of inducing
the mother and other family members of the deceased to
make the claim.
According to them, Olaiya was felled by soldiers’ bullets at
Efon Alaaye.
“We have confirmed that Fayose gave the woman huge
sum of money and asked her to start crying, rolling on the
floor with persistent mentioning of Hon. Ogundele as the
one who shot the boy,” they said in a statement by Omirin’s
Special Adviser, Media, Wole Olujobi.
The statement added, “Modupe Olaiya was actually killed by
security agents while thugs armed with guns and other
dangerous weapons massed up at the Itawure security
checkpoint violently protesting and blocking the route
through which the 19 APC lawmakers were coming to Ado
Ekiti.
“Residents of Efon Alaaye have confirmed that the incident
happened long before the lawmakers arrived at the
checkpoint when the thugs became unruly and started
shooting at the security agents.
“In the exchange of gunfire, Olaiya was felled and taken to
the morgue. His body was later shown to residents by
government officials alleging that Ogundele, who was
nowhere near the scene, was implicated.
“The lawmakers were not even aware of the incident
because they were still far away from the spot when the
incident happened. So, it will be mischievous if the
lawmakers are linked with the incident.
“Nigerians should recall that the Ekiti State High Court once
dismissed Fayose as an incorrigible liar and peddler of
mischief. Nigerians should therefore note the deceit
involved in this show of shame. Is it the family of the
deceased that should visit the governor in his office or the
governor that should visit them to sympathise with them in
their house?
“This is another propaganda typical of Fayose’s mischief to
get at the opposition. What Fayose is doing is to stoke
crisis that will lead to the arrest of Hon. Ogundele so that he
will not be around on Saturday for the House of Assembly
poll in which the man is seeking re-election.
“This is another stunt from a man who trades and trafficks
in lies and mischief as essential instrument of governance.” CLICK HERE TO READ FULL AND TOUCHING NIGERIAN CELEBRITIES BIOGRAPHY AND SCANDALS
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