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Tag: Ekiti

  • Fayose accuses Fed Govt of plotting to destabilise Ekiti

    Fayose accuses Fed Govt of plotting to destabilise Ekiti

    Ekiti State Governor Ayo Fayose has raised the alarm, accusing the Federal Government of plots to destabilise the state with the arrest and detention of his Chief of Staff, Chief Dipo Anisulowo.

    According to the governor, four members of the state’s House of Assembly are slated for arrest and detention for alleged treason.

    Fayose, who spoke at a news conference in Abuja yesterday, said the plot was being hatched by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Mr. Babachir Lawal and an unnamed Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN).

    Fayose said: “A few days ago, we got it on good authority that there was a meeting with some politicians from Ekiti State, including an Ekiti born Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) and a self-professed human rights activist by agents of the Federal Government, with the agenda solely, on how to bring down my administration as the governor of the state.

    “Activities of these elements that are obviously afraid of facing another electoral defeat in 2018 are being coordinated through the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Mr. Babachir Lawal and the Attorney General of the Federation.

    “Certain top functionaries of the Ekiti State government and some important members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ekiti State, and some associates of mine, have now been pencilled down for arrest and indefinite detention by the EFCC under the guise of investigating the funds spent by the PDP on the June 21, 2014 governorship election and the Presidential election.

    “The game plan is to make those to be arrested get detained indefinitely, forced to make statements incriminating me, while at the same time feeding the public with orchestrated fake reports, using their usual media organs.

    “This is coming after their failure to use the Department of State Service (DSS) to coerce members of the State House of Assembly to buy into the impeachment plot against me with a view to silencing me, being a  major voice of the opposition.

    “To achieve this sinister plot against the government and people of Ekiti State, we have been informed that some of their trusted allies in the EFCC have been mobilised to move to Ekiti any moment from now.”

    The governors advised the government and its agents to wait till the end of his tenure in 2018, when he would be available to answer any of their questions, no matter how unreasonable.

  • Fayose: Ekiti won’t contribute to school feeding programme

    Fayose: Ekiti won’t contribute to school feeding programme

    The school feeding rogramme proposed by the Federal Government should be done without any financial contribution from the states, Ekiti State Governor Ayodele Fayose said yesterday.

    He said it was wrong for the All Progressives Congress (APC)-led Federal Government to ask state governments for a 40 per cent counterpart funding for the project.

    “The Federal Government is already looking for excuses for the impending failure of the programme by asking states to contribute 40 per cent to the scheme,” Fayose said in a statement.

    He said the school feeding programme was purely a contract between the APC-led Federal Government and Nigerians.

    “Were the states consulted before the APC made the promise during the presidential campaign?” the governor queried.

    “How can you make a promise and win election on the basis of that promise and now expect states to help you to fulfil the promise? That to me is fraud,” he added.

    According to Fayose, Ekiti State and other states in the country deserve to benefit from the programme without assisting the Federal Government with any 40 per cent counterpart funding.

    The governor said the APC-led Federal Government should rather blame itself for failing to do proper study on the practicability of the scheme before promising Nigerians, instead of looking for who to blame for not fulfilling the school feeding promise.

    “Apart from the fact that Ekiti State lacked the financial wherewithal to provide counterpart fund for such a programme, it is the duty of President Muhammed Buhari and his APC that won election on the basis of their promise to give free meal to school pupils to fulfil the promise without placing any burden on other tiers of government.

    “Nigerians should come to terms with the reality that the Federal Government is already looking for a ready alibi for the impending failure of the school feeding programme.

    “The Federal Government knows that 80 per cent of the states lack the financial will to be able to contribute the 40 per cent counterpart fund for the programme and the time the programme eventually fails, Nigerians will be told that it failed because states did not key in to it.

  • Fayose, APC trade accusations over Ekiti debt profile

    Fayose, APC trade accusations over Ekiti debt profile

    •Party urges DMO to clarify state’s liability

    Ekiti State Governor Ayo Fayose and the All Progressives Congress (APC) have disagreed over the state actual debt profile.

    The governor alleged that the N25 billion bonds taken from the capital market and N31 billion commercial loans taken by the Kayode Fayemi administration were responsible for his inability to pay workers’ salaries.

    But the APC, while admitting that its administration led by Dr. Fayemi took the N25 billion bond to execute legacy projects, described Fayose’s allegation of taking another N31 billion commercial loan as a “blatant lie which is far from the truth”.

    The party called on the Debt Management Office (DMO) of the Federal Ministry of Finance to speak out and clarify Ekiti’s debt status.

    The APC, in a statement also yesterday by its spokesman, Taiwo Olatunbosun, said a clarification from DMO has become imperative.

    The statement accused the governor of “giving inconsistent figures on different occasions that had cast doubts on the integrity of the state’s financial application.”

    Fayose, in a statement yesterday by his Chief Press Secretary, Idowu Adelusi, alleged that N1.2 billion is being deducted monthly from the state’s allocation to service loans obtained by the Fayemi administration.

    He accused the APC of “gingering Labour to remain adamant on the issue of strike”.

    The governor claimed that if the N1.2 billion being deducted is added to the state’s monthly allocations, his administration will not owe workers.

    Fayose said he was surprised that when Fayemi took the loans, which allegedly made payment of workers’ salaries difficult, the labour did not kick against the move.

    The governor alleged that the strike had been politicised because of his “criticism of the bad policies of the Federal Government and his fight against tyranny”.

    He wondered why some states where workers were owed more salaries than Ekiti were still enjoying the understanding of labour.

    Fayose accused the Fayemi administration of inflating figures of the monthly Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) for “political reasons and giving the labour wrong information and false hope”.

    “A state like Ekiti without any industry and Fayemi administration would post that it realised between N600 million and N700 millio0n monthly from IGR whereas in the actual sense Ekiti IGR had never gone beyond N300 million or N350 million monthly,” the governor said.

    Fayose said he was surprised that the labour, which praised him for transparency, was now blackmailing him as if he had kept Ekiti money somewhere.

    “The labour should hold the Fayemi Administration responsible for the economic woes in the state and stop castigating me,” Fayose said.

    He said: “During my first term, I did not borrow a dime to run the state. I paid salaries on 22nd of every month. When I was going in October 2006, I left N10.4 billion in government coffers.

    “As a responsible governor, the state cannot be financially buoyant and I will refuse to pay the workers. A child cannot ask a good father for fish and the father will give him stone. I have been sounding the warning about the nation’s economy since last year.”

    The governor explained: “For the N25 billion bond Fayemi took from the capital market, the state pays over N600 million monthly to service it and we will pay till 2022.

    “On the bond money, there is an irrevocable standing order for the monthly deductions; the Federal Government has no power over that. It was the commercial loans they took that were converted to bail-out funds by the Federal Government and we pay over N300 million to service the debts monthly and that will subsist till 2036.

    “Also, they left debts on fertilser, vehicles purchased for different reasons and groups and other commitments for which over N100 million is deducted from our monthly allocation. If these funds are not deducted and we have them at hand, our situation would have been better than this.”

    Denying Fayose’s allegations, Olatunbosun said: “In a programme he appeared on Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) recently, he put the deductions at N1.5 billion. But again few days later on Africa Independent Television (AIT), he said the figure is N600 million. We make bold to say that Fayose’s claim of N1. 2 billion deduction from Ekiti monthly allocation is total fallacy and Fayose’s creation to justify his inability to pay workers’ salary.

    “How he spent the bailout was not clear because he collected the bailout cash of N9.6 billion at the time Ekiti was owing only one month salary, which he falsely quoted at N2.6 billion and so how he spent N9.6 billion to pay a month salary remains unclear.”

    Accusing Fayose of “deliberate and malicious misrepresentation of facts”, he challenged him to produce in writing, the purported commendation he received from the EFCC and the ICPC over the N9.6 billion bailout fund he is yet to account for.

    On Fayose’s claim that the Fayemi administration borrowed another N31 billion commercial loan apart from the N25 billion bond, Olatunbosun challenged Fayose to provide evidence of this loan and what it was used for “since records are there in the office of the Account General if he is sure of his facts”.

    “The truth of the matter is that Fayose has resorted to blatant lies to cover up his many shady financial transactions and misapplication of state funds,” the APC spokesman said.

    On Fayose’s allegation that the IGR of the state was never N600 million during the Fayemi administration, Olatunbosun referred him to the published audited accounts of the state signed by the then Auditor General “instead of persistent lies to cover up his financial recklessness which accounted for his inability to pay workers.

    Urging the governor to present the schedules of payments as he claimed for public scrutiny, the APC spokesman said it was not enough to deceive the public that he always presented federal allocation receipts to workers to see first-hand the financial status of the state.

    He added that actual monthly receipts and myriads of unbearable taxes imposed on Ekiti people and pupils in primary schools did not support his claim of cash squeeze.

    He said: “Fayose only wants to confuse Ekiti people with the ‘more you look, the less you see’ analysis of the financial position of the state that has become his trademark.”

    “On his claim that he left N10 billion in Ekiti coffers during his aborted first tenure, this is a lie that has been debunked many times.

    “Fayose, who is an advocate of governments not borrowing beyond their tenure and vowed on his inauguration in 2014 not to borrow kobo during his tenure, has already borrowed N19.6 billion, which deduction is obviously beyond his tenure, thus showing his insincerity and demagoguery, Olatunbosun said.

  • Labour backs workers’ strike in Ondo, Ekiti

    Labour backs workers’ strike in Ondo, Ekiti

    The Joint National Public Service Negotiation Council yesterday backed the ongoing strike by organised labour in Ondo and Ekiti states over unpaid salaries.

    In a statement issued in Abuja by its president, Comrade Kiri Mohammed, the council said the failure of both states to pay salaries for the past five months was responsible for the industrial action.

    He added that workers in the two states had endured enough since they have no other source of income to sustain their families.

    Mohammed condemned the failure of the two states’ governments to live up to expectation in fulfilling their contractual obligations of paying workers’ salaries at the end of each month, saying “every labourer is worth his wage”.

    The labour leader urged the states to negotiate with the workers to “forestall further unpleasant consequences that will lead to a total shutdown of the economies of the two states”.

    Mohammed said: “Industrial peace is paramount throughout the country this point in time to support the present administration in its unwavering commitment to revive the nation’s economy, which is in shambles. Council will resist any attempt by any state government sacrificing workers salaries in consideration of selfish interests.”

    “We identifies with these indigent public servants who have endured enough and have no other source of income to sustain their families. The high cost of living escalated the situation and the integrity of these workers to borrow has been exhausted since their creditors and the traders no longer grant them loans and give food items on credit.”

    But the Ekiti State House of Assembly yesterday appealed to workers to suspend their strike to allow for dialogue with state government.

    Its Speaker, Kola Oluwawole, made the appeal while addressing a briefing to mark the first anniversary of the Fifth Assembly in Ado Ekiti, the state capital.

    He revealed that the Assembly, which was inaugurated on June 5, last year, passed 13 bills into laws and 16 resolutions were approved within the first legislative year.

    Oluwawole said the state legislators are concerned about the strike and would do everything possible to ensure that the state enjoys industrial peace again.

    The labour unions in the state have rebuffed an appeal by Governor Ayo Fayose to suspend their strike and enter into dialogue to resolve the face-off over the non-payment of five months’ arrears of salaries.

    Oluwawole said the Assembly has commenced a process of mediation by having a meeting with the labour leaders on how the matter could be resolved amicably.

    He said: “The government is not happy with the situation. We invited the labour and had useful discussions with them.

    “They proposed and we too proposed and very soon, the smooth relationship will continue. It is not a good thing to experience, but strike is not the answer.

    The court-validated Chairman of Trade Union Congress (TUC) in Ekiti State, Kolawole Olaiya, said  Fayose has no solution to the ongoing industrial crisis .

    Olaiya was given a compulsory retirement and demoted from Grade Level 12 to 10 after he faced an Administrative Panel of Inquiry for alleging that the state government had received bailout funds in 2015 when it denied same.

    The TUC chief expressed regrets that the same governor, who says the state lacks money to pay workers is building a N5.7 billion flyover when workers and retirees were suffering from hunger.

    Olaiya said he has been vindicated and justified by his agitation for workers, which led to his sack from the civil service.

    He is challenging the sack at the National Industrial Court of Nigeria.

  • Ekiti labour leaders slam Fayose for ‘feeding public with lies’

    Ekiti labour leaders slam Fayose for ‘feeding public with lies’

    Ekiti State labour leaders have accused Governor Ayo Fayose of feeding the public with lies to whip up sentiment against the workers’ strike.

    In a statement after an emergency meeting yesterday at the Labour House in Egbewa, Ado-Ekiti, they denied being part of a meeting, where money coming from the Federation Account was shared sector-by-sector.

    The statement, which was in response to the governor’s claims during his monthly media chat, was jointly signed by Paul Olayemi of Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), John Adebayo (Trade Union Congress (TUC) and Blessing Oladele (Joint Negotiating Council (JNC).

    It blamed the governor for mentioning just four of the 10 demands presented to him by the unions. According to the workers’ leaders, no solutions were given to even the four.

    They said the governor’s resort to divide and rule to break the strike won’t work since they were resolute to ensure that the five months arrears of salaries are paid.

    They said: “The ongoing strike is not an ego trip or politically-motivated, but about the rights of workers and pensioners who are dying daily out of hunger and frustration”.

    The labour leaders berated the governor for deciding to go on strike too, noting: “This (decision) leaves much to be desired”.

    They said contrary to the statement by the governor that he incorporated representatives of labour unions in the state’s monthly cash allocation meetings, “the meeting is only a briefing and not a cash allocation meeting”.

    “So, the idea of labour leaders sharing monthly cash allocation and the governor approving does not arise. There has never been any advice or suggestion given to government by the organised labour at this forum that has ever been taken,” the statement said.

    They added that there was ever a time they reached accords with government to pay only net salary, which would exclude cooperative deductions, bank loans and union dues.

    The labour leaders expressed regrets that the governor himself had condemned net payment when he came on board.

    They added that Fayose dismissed same as a “fraud” during his election campaigns.

    The organised labour expressed shock over the internally generated revenue (IGR) figures reeled out by the governor, which they said were contrary to that ever declared by the state’s accountant general at any of their meetings.

    According to them, while the accountant general gave figures, which ranged between only N150 million and N200 million, except that of N268 million for April, the governor during his media chat gave N267 million for September 2015; N252 million for October 2015; N195 million for November 2015; and N181 million for December 2015.

    They added that the governor said for January, February and March, the accruals were N389 million, N381 million and N302 million.

    “Labour was embarrassed to hear the monthly IGR read on air by his excellency,” the statement said.

    The leadership of the unions berated the governor for planning to pay only the Joint Health Sector Unions (JOHESU), a section of workers in the state, which had decided to pull out of the ongoing strike action.

    They urged workers to remain in their houses until otherwise directed by their unions.

    Their words: “On the issue of outstanding salary, it is common knowledge that workers have performed their duties efficiently and effectively for the period of January to May 2016 and hence, they deserve their pay without further delay.

    “Therefore, contrary to government’s decision to pay the sector that opted out of the struggle is tantamount to divide and rule tactics usually employed by government in situations like this.

    “It should be noted that labour has neither suspended nor call off the ongoing industrial action. Hence, we are using this medium to implore the workers to stay at home and observe the strike action until the leadership of organised labour gives further directives.”

  • Ekiti workers begin strike over unpaid salaries

    Ekiti workers begin strike over unpaid salaries

    •Labour issues 48-hour ultimatum 

    There is tension in the Ekiti State civil service over the five month salary arrears owed workers.

    The workers are also aggrieved over government’s failure to pay last December deductions.

    The state councils of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Trade Union Congress (TUC) and Joint Negotiation Council (JNC) have issued another 48-hour ultimatum to the government to pay the December deductions or face an industrial action.

    Labour had last Tuesday issued a 24-hour ultimatum to the government to pay deductions or face a strike but this was overshadowed by the national strike called by NLC, which began last Wednesday.

    The workers are angry with the labour leaders for giving preference to agitation for deductions rather than the salary arrears.

    The December 2015 salary was paid to workers in March but only the net was paid without  deductions to cooperatives, check off dues to unions, among other miscellaneous payment totaling N512 million.

    The state TUC boss, Odunayo Adesoye, told reporters that labour leaders are meeting at press time to discuss what would be the next line of action, consequent upon another 48 hours ultimatum issued to the governor to comply with the early demand.

    Some workers, who pleaded for anonymity, slammed labour leaders for “taking it easy” with the government when many of them had turned to “beggars”.

    But a worker, who identified himself as Ojo Ajewole, said: “The labour leaders are no longer representing our interest but only fighting for their own benefit.

    “How can they be requesting for the payment of only deduction in December salary when five months salaries have not been paid. This is unheard of. They are advocating for the payment of deductions, so that check off dues to unions can be paid for their own enjoyment,” he alleged.

    Adesoye described the allegation as unfounded, saying only N12 million of the aggregate of the deductions will go to trade unions and their affiliates.

    He said: “What we are advocating for is the payment of the deductions, so that cooperative societies will be viable enough to lend money to workers to confront the present hardship.

     

    “We were at the meeting for the sharing of the last state allocation, where we agreed that subventions to the State University, College of Education and College of Science and Technology, Ijero-Ekiti  should be paid, while the next allocation will be for the payment of other workers.

    “We were in that meeting, we participated, we knew the financial position of the state and it was difficult for us to turn around and fight the government on why salaries are not paid.

    “The main reason why we issued ultimatum to government on deduction was that, we agreed at the meeting that all deductions on December salary be paid and on that we stand.”

     

  • U.S. Army officer fights drug abuse in Ekiti

    U.S. Army officer fights drug abuse in Ekiti

    An officer of the United States Army, Captain Sunday Adebomi, took a giant step to curb drug abuse among youths in his native Ekiti State by sponsoring an essay competition among secondary schools. ODUNAYO OGUNMOLA reports.

    He was in faraway United States of America where he was serving in the Army when he read on the Internet that his native Ekiti State in Nigeria was one of the leading states in the abuse of cannabis sativa also known as “Indian hemp” and “Marijuana.”

    As an officer of the US Army, Captain Sunday Adebomi, who hails from Ise-Ekiti, headquarters of Ise/Orun Local Government Area of Ekiti State was concerned that many youths, including pupils and students in public schools are hooked on drugs.

    In a bid to secure the future of the younger generation, Adebomi bankrolled an event in conjunction with Youth Saving Lifestyle Creation Initiative (YSLCI), a non-governmental organization and the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) to create awareness on the evils of drug abuse.

    The US Army Captain envisioned an Essay Competition among students of public schools as a means to spread the message on the adverse effects on drug abuse.

    The single largest seizure worth 77 tonnes with a market price of N83 million was destroyed in the state in 2009 by NDLEA and since then, the agency has stepped up the drug war by arresting abusers and destroying Indian hemp plantations

    Forty one students from various schools were short listed after undergoing series of tests in their different schools to participate in the final competition.

    All the 41 wrote an exam in the full glare of the audience and under the watchful eyes of invigilators at the event which held at the Sheikh Ibiyemi Hall of Olaoluwa Muslim Grammar School, Ado Ekiti, the state capital.

    They had emerged winners at their school and local government levels before emerging as finalists for the state level with the overall winner expected to represent the state at the southwest competition.

    Topic of the Essay was “Drug Abuse, Cultism and Youth Violence in Secondary Schools in Nigeria.”

    Shortly after the students wrote their essays, their papers were marked by teachers who were already on standby and the results were announced.

    The programme was chaired by the Onikun of Ikun-Ekiti in Moba Local Government Area of the state, Oba David Olatunde.

    Other dignitaries include NDLEA Chairman/Chief Executive, Colonel Abdallah Mohammed (rtd) represented by National Director, Drug Demand Reduction, Alhaji Baba Hussein; the Oloye of Ekiti, Oba Oluwole Ademolaju; former Deputy Governor of Ekiti State, Prof, Modupe Adelabu represented by Mrs. Dupe Bakare, Ekiti NDLEA Commander, Suleiman Jadi; state President of All Nigeria Conference of Principals of Secondary Schools(ANCOPSS), Mrs. Folake Alade and state Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) Chairman, Chief S.A. Osadare.

    Female students dominated the competition as they won the first, second and third positions winning cash prizes, laptops and big notes from the sponsor for their outstanding performance.

    Miss Deborah Ekunloluwa,from Comprehensive High School, Ado-Ekiti, came first with 80.5 percent, while Miss Kolawole Kehinde, from Ijaloke High School, Emure-Ekiti came second with 77.5percent and Miss  Fabunmi from Okemesi  High School, Okemesi-Ekiti came third with 77percent.

    The three female winners would represent Ekiti in the southwest zonal competition.

    Reacting, the sponsor of the programme, Adebomi, while giving out prizes to the three winners congratulates them for their outstanding performance.

    He gave the first 10 students in the essay competition certificates and notebooks for participation while different laptops were given to the 1st, 2nd and 3rd winners.

    He vowed to pay for the West African Examination Council (WAEC) fee of the overall winner of the competition.

    Adebomi charged the three female winners not to relent efforts in reading and focusing on their studies.

    Speaking on his motivation to organize the programme, Adebomi said: “I was in the US when I read on the Internet that Ekiti is number one in marijuana cultivation and it has been my passion to discourage something like this.

    “Most politicians encourage drug abuse among our youths in order to use them to foment trouble and it has been my desire to mentor the young generation. This is just the beginning because we are still going to extend our campaign to churches, mosques markets, motor parks and other places.

    “If you go out there and see what marijuana has done to the lives of these young ones, you will be sad. I started this programme this year and it will continue every year, that’s why we brought NDLEA into it.

    NDLEA Chairman/Chief Executive, Col. Mohammed who was represented by Mr Husein congratulated the students.

    He charged them to educate their friends that smoking of cannabis and abusing drugs are dangerous to their health.

    His words: “A competition of this nature is good, the youth are being used to plant hard drugs and they are the ones that abuse hard drugs most.

    “The drug war has to be fought by everybody and it requires the collective efforts of all, traditional rulers are also being mobilised.”

    NDLEA Commander in Ekiti, Mr. Jadi, said the Fountain of Knowledge no longer leads cannabis production and consumption in Nigeria through his agency’s advocacy, crackdown on offenders and collaboration with various interest groups.

    Jadi, who noted that the menace of drug abuse has become a global phenomenon, called on all critical stakeholders to join hands with the agency to prevent the future leaders from being consumed by the scourge, he said had affected virtually every family in the country.

    Reeling out statistics to justify his claim that the NDLEA was winning the war against this menace, Jadi said: “in 2013 out of 600 suspects arrested by our agency for drug related offences, 76 of these cases were students.

    “But between September, 2015 and now, only four cases have been reported to have connection with students’ involvement, which shows that drug abuse indexes in Ekiti had dropped.

    “We are appealing to the sponsor of this programme to make it annual event because youths are the ones involving in hard drug and they normally exhibit such tendency from secondary school level”.

    The YSLCI Executive Director, Oke Olugbenga, expressed sadness that Ekiti’s image has been dented as a major producer of cannabis in West Africa noting that through effort like this, its name will be removed from the hall of infamy.

  • Ekiti workers shun offices

    Ekiti workers shun offices

    Many civil servants in Ekiti State shunned their offices yesterday, hours after the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) suspended the nationwide strike to protest the increase in fuel price.

    At government offices, including the State Secretariat, old Governor’s Office, new Governor’s Office, House of Assembly, High Court complex, local government secretariats and schools, few workers were around as at 10am.

    The workers gathered outside their offices to discuss their experiences and  fate over an impending local labour showdown.

    The lull in government activities prompted many of those who came to work to return home as early as 11am.

    Some workers, who pleaded for anonymity, said though the NLC had directed its members to resume work, some  of them heard the  information late.

    A worker said: “Many of our colleagues who did not report for work said they were awaiting further directive from the state chapter.”

    The Nation gathered that the workers’ action was in deference to an ultimatum by the state councils of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Trade Union Congress (TUC) and Joint Negotiation Council (JNC) to the government to pay workers’ salaries arrears and deductions.

    The ultimatum expired 24 hours before the NLC nationwide strike began, which made many workers assume that a local strike had begun.

    Ekiti NLC Chairman Ade Adesanmi said unions would meet today.

     

  • Ekiti poll: Aluko floors Fayose as court quashes arrest warrant

    Ekiti poll: Aluko floors Fayose as court quashes arrest warrant

    An Ado Ekiti High Court has quashed a warrant of arrest issued against a former Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ekiti State, Dr. Temitope Aluko.

    The state government through the Office of the Attorney General on February 3,2016, secured the bench warrant seeking Aluko’s arrest at an Ado Ekiti Chief Magistrate’s Court presided over by Mr. Adesoji Adegboye.

    The state government had approached the Magistrate’s Court to compel the police to arrest Aluko for alleged perjury after claiming that the election which brought Governor Ayo Fayose to power was rigged.

    The Fayose administration averred that Aluko had committed perjury having earlier testified before the governorship election Tribunal that the election was free and fair.

    But the state High Court presided over by Justice John Adeyeye set aside the bench warrant issued by the Magistrate’s Court following the hearing of a motion ex-parte filed and sworn to by Fayose’s aide, Lere Olayinka.

    The case with Suit Number HAD/191M/2016 has Attorney General of Ekiti State as applicant while the Commissioner of Police is the respondent.

    The application was seeking an order of the court granting leave for the applicant to apply for the issuance of prerogative writ of mandamus to compel the respondent to discharge its statutory duty to arrest and investigate Aluko for alleged perjury and be made to face trial as a result of the investigation.

    But Justice Adeyeye, according to an Enrolment of Order obtained by our reporter on Friday nullified the bench warrant issued by the Chief Magistrate’s Court on ground that motion was not filed within three amounts allowed by law after Aluko had given evidence before the Tribunal.

    The certified copy of the Enrolment of Order was issued at the High Court Registry, Ado Ekiti bythe presiding Judge on Thursday, 5th of May, 2016.

    Justice Adeyeye ruled: “This application was brought pursuant to Order 40 of the High Court of Ekiti State Civil Procedure Rules.

    “Order 40 Rules (4) provides as follows: an application for judicial review shall be brought within three months of the date of occurrence of the subject of application.

    “Since Dr. Temitope Aluko was alleged to have committed the offence of perjury when he testified before the Election Petition Tribunal on 12/11/2014, the subject matter of the application is clearly a period of more than three months stipulated by Order 40 Rule (4).

    “The application having been brought outside the period stipulated by the Rules of this Court, in my humble view, is incompetent. It should be dismissed. I hereby dismiss it.”

  • FRSC report on Ekiti doctors

    SIR: It is no longer news that medical doctors nationwide are currently mourning their heroes who lost their lives on Sunday, April 24 on their way to the just concluded Annual Delegates Meeting/Annual General Meeting in Sokoto. What is news is that officials of Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) want to use the opportunity to advertise their speed limiting devices hence their report that over-speeding caused the tyre of the vehicle conveying the doctors to burst.

    The survivors of the accident have since raised important issues in their respective rebuttals of the FRSC report concerning the cause of the fatal accident. First, that the officials of FRSC arrived more than 40 minutes after the accident occurred and so the five victims who could have been saved died before FRSC officials arrived at the scene. The implication is either that the FRSC officials did not know the meaning of Golden hour in trauma management or they were not at their duty post at the time of the accident. Second, the officials who arrived at the scene albeit belatedly were oblivious of the happenings in the area just as they were also ill-prepared for any emergency. This is evidenced by the fact that they carried the victims to a hospital, Doka General Hospital where nothing was in place to manage accident victims.

    Equally important is that officials of the FRSC also did not have enough fuel in their fuel tank. When one of the survivors accepted to buy fuel for them, they went in search of fuel but when they finally bought it, the golden hour needed for the remaining two critically injured victims had passed. Thus, on getting to St Gerard hospital Kaduna, two of the victims were confirmed dead. The two could have survived had FRSC officials come prepared with enough fuel in their vehicle.

    This last point is very important because I am aware that there is budgetary allocation for FRSC operations. The question is who feeds on the money meant for the fuelling of FRSC vehicles? Who are the cabals managing the FRSC budgetary allocation for fuelling their vehicles?

    When James Ocholi, Minister of State for Labour and Employment and some members of his family died in similar circumstance, FRSC officials gave Nigerians the same reason of over-speeding as the cause of the burst tyre. Does it then mean that every accident that happens along the Abuja-Kaduna road is due to over-speeding? Could it not also be as a result of the deplorable state of the road?

    More worrisome is the fact that FRSC officials who arrived more than 40 minutes later claim to know more facts about the accident than the survivors and other eyewitnesses. I ask again, how can this be?

    Recall that the same FRSC that told Nigerians that Ocholi’s driver had no driving licence as if drivers undergo any special training before obtaining the licence. What role would such a licence have played to make Ocholi’s driver more responsible or even professional on the road? If it were in developed countries FRSC officials would be sweating to defend their incompetence and ineptitude in handling the case of the Ekiti State NMA delegates but here they are attacking the bereaved and the deceased with their fallacies.

    It is like in Nigeria, there are few sentences one must learn in order to work in a particular institution. In the police, one must learn to say, we are on top of the situation, even when one is as confused as other citizens out there. In the FRSC, one must learn to relate all road traffic accidents to over-speeding even if the state of the roads is so poor that a speed of more than 10km/h is practically impossible.

     

    • Dr Paul John,

    Port Harcourt, Rivers State.