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Tag: Fayose

  • Ekiti monarchs to APC lawmakers: Don’t impeach Fayose

    Ekiti monarchs to APC lawmakers: Don’t impeach Fayose

    Traditional rulers in Ekiti State have warned the 19 All Progressives Congress (APC) members of the state House of Assembly against impeaching Governor Ayo Fayose.

    They reiterated their opposition in an unequivocal term to moves by the outgoing legislators and their sponsors to impeach the governor.

    According to the monarchs, all attempts to impeach the governor should stop forthwith.

    The Obas, who held an emergency meeting on Wednesday on the impeachment crisis rocking the state, accused the APC legislators who form majority in the state parliament of “consistently frustrating all their peace moves by not attending meetings called for the purpose.”

    In a 13-point communiqué signed by the Chairman of Ekiti State Council of Traditional Rulers, Oba Adamo Idowu Babalola, made available to reporters on Thursday, the monarchs said, “they are deeply concerned and worried about the lingering political upheaval which became aggravated after the March 28 presidential election.”

    The royal fathers, however, praised the State Chief Judge, Justice Ayodeji Daramola, for “rising above partisan positions to uphold the tent of his office despite pressure from interested quarters.

    They implored Daramola “to continue in the same spirit so as to ensure that the popular wish of the generality of the people is not subverted.”

    The Obas appealed to Fayose to “graciously consider giving palliative measures to alleviate the sufferings of the agitating legislators” whose salaries and entitlements have not been paid since December on the alleged orders of the governor.

    They maintained that Fayose still remains the legitimate governor of Ekiti State and should be allowed to exercise the mandate given to him by the electorate in the June 21, 2014 gubernatorial election.

     

  • Fayose: APC planning chaos from May 29

    Fayose: APC planning chaos from May 29

    Ekiti State Governor Ayo Fayose yesterday said he has uncovered a plot by the All Progressives Congress (APC) and its leaders to throw the state into chaos from May 29.

    Fayose, in a statement personally signed by him, said he has put the United Nations (UN), African Union (AU) and the international community on notice “on the imminent reign of impunity from that day”.

    The governor said he was raising the alarm because “Nigeria and the world at large should know who to hold responsible in the event of anarchy in the state”.

    Fayose is locked in a battle with 19 APC members of the House of Assembly, who have served him a notice of impeachment alongside his deputy, Kolapo Olusola.

    The 19 APC lawmakers accused Fayose of eight impeachable offences, including “unconstitutional change of leadership of the Assembly and passing the Appropriation Bill, screening and ratifying commissioner-nominees with seven Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) lawmakers.

    The governor, who maintained that he has no regrets for supporting Jonathan, alleged that he has information that he is the “prime demolition target of the APC national leadership” for his unrelenting support for the President.

    He claimed that “APC insiders” informed him that APC leaders are yet to get over the fact that Ekiti is the only Southwest state that Buhari did not win.

    Fayose vowed that he would never leave the PDP and would remain the “last man standing”.

    He said: said: “It has become imperative once again to address the media on the constitutional and political crises being foisted on our dear state.

    “Ekiti people have been persistent in their preference for me and the PDP to correct the ills of the last four years and set the state on the path of greatness.

    “Despite that Ekiti people have consistently spoken with their votes against the APC, Nigerians are witnesses to the litany of illegalities being woven by both the national leadership of the party and its Ekiti State chapter.

    “I trust Ekiti people to do what is right in securing peace in their land. I have been severally informed that I am the prime demolition target of the APC national leadership because of my overt and unalloyed support for President Goodluck Jonathan during the campaigns.

     “I wish to declare unequivocally that I remain loyal to President Jonathan even after May 29 as my support for his re-election and administration was not about bread-and-butter.

    “I was convinced he was moving Nigeria in the right direction. I have no regrets supporting him. If the same situation presents itself again, I would do it all over.

    “Let me state it clearly that if President Jonathan is deserted by all Nigerians today, I, Ayodele Fayose, would remain with him. I have chosen to be his last-man standing.

    “If for this show of loyalty to Mr President and my party, APC and its leaders believe that the best way to pay me back is to make Ekiti ungovernable, the decision on appropriate reaction belongs to the people, whose mandate I keep in trust.

    “It is ironic that those who said worse things about the President-elect, General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd), when they were in opposing parties, are the ones milling around him today, using him as an electoral talisman and demonising us for saying things of lesser magnitude during a campaign that was mainly characterised by hate-messages from both divides.

    “I also want to put on record that if all PDP members join APC today, I will remain the last-man standing for the party, even as I have no cause to denigrate the office of the president.

     “Let me again state that I will continue to seek peace with my traducers. Since the Supreme Court judgment which held my 2006 impeachment as illegal, unconstitutional, null and void and of no effect, my preaching has been peace.

    “In alerting the international community on what to expect from May 29, I have decided to put on notice the United Nations (UN) and the African Union (AU).”

  • Ekiti: APC plotting to cause chaos from May 29 – Fayose

    Ekiti: APC plotting to cause chaos from May 29 – Fayose

    Ekiti State Governor, Ayo Fayose, on Wednesday said he has uncovered a plot by the All Progressives Congress (APC) and its leaders to thrown his state into chaos as from May 29.

    Fayose in a statement personally signed by him and made available to reporters in Ado-Ekiti, the state capital, said he has put the United Nations, African Union and the international community on notice “on the imminent reign of impunity from that day.”

    The governor said he was raising the alarm over an alleged threat by the APC to make the state ungovernable, maintaining that “Nigeria and the world at large should know who to hold responsible in the event of anarchy in the state in particular and Yoruba land in general.”

    President Goodluck Jonathan who lost in the March 28 presidential election is expected to hand over to the President-elect, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, who ran on the platform of the APC, on May 29.

    Fayose is presently locked in a battle of wits with the APC members of the House of Assembly who have fired him a notice of impeachment alongside his deputy, Kolapo Olusola.

    The 19 APC lawmakers who are in majority in the House accused Fayose of eight impeachable offences including “unconstitutional change of leadership of the Assembly, passing of Appropriation Bill and  screening and ratifying commissioner nominees with seven Peoples democratic Party (PDP) lawmakers.

    Fayose, who maintained that he has no regrets for supporting Jonathan to the best of his ability, said he has information that he is the “prime demolition target of the APC national leadership” for his unrelenting support for the President.

    He claimed that “insiders” in the APC informed him that AP leaders are yet to get over the fact that Ekiti is the only state they could not win for Buhari in the entire Southwest region in the presidential poll.

    The Ekiti governor vowed that he would never leave the PDP for any other party and would remain as the “last man standing.”

    Fayose said: “It has become imperative once again to address the media on the constitutional and political crises being foisted on our dear state, Ekiti by irritants of unbridled ambitions, who are not only devoid of spirit of sportsmanship but implacable even when all odds are against them and roundly rejected by the good people of the state.

    “It is no longer news that I defeated an incumbent governor in all the 16 local government areas in the state and that for the first time in the history of Nigeria, attempts were made to use the courts to prevent someone who clearly won a governorship election from assuming office.”

  • Fayose’s olive branch

    SIR: I never knew Governor Ayodele Fayose understands what is peace, and its significance. His peace overture is coming rather too late. When he raised his voice at a higher decibel than all others even when wisdom dictated that he ought to have played the siddon look approach (just coming around from political Siberia) as his election was not coming up at the same time with others, he shunned all wise counsel and descended into the muddy pool of dirty politics (even though that has been his natural political habitat) even with his clothes on. It was at that point that he courted trouble; and held out himself as the maid of easy virtue for every politically randy man to ravish, and they are quite many.

    Fayose appealed to the court of trouble, and to that court he must go to be judged. His prosecutors, persecutors and witnesses against him at the appeal court of trouble are not few: OBJ, Tinubu, Aregbesola, Fayemi, the 19 Ekiti legislators whom he banished from Ekiti at the height of his theater of the absurd are all baying for his blood. Your Excellency, the desecration that you brought on the high office of governor with your uncouth language and dancing naked at the political arena require atonement. Wherever atonement is required, there must of necessity be an offering of the sacrifice of blood. So, my governor, step forward to your Golgotha!

     

    • Chris Edache Agbiti,

    Abuja

     

  • ‘No escape route for Fayose’

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) Elders’ Forum in Ekiti State has said there is no escape route for Governor Ayo Fayose.

    The group said Fayose breached the constitution, desecrated his office and should face the consequences of his actions.

    Its Publicity Secretary, Dr. Bayo Orire, warned the military and the police against being used to frustrate the 19 APC lawmakers.

    Condemning the military for preventing the APC lawmakers from entering Ado-Ekiti, the state capital, yesterday, Orire said the group was concerned about the “open partisanship of Army officials”.

    The group’s head said a responsible House of Assembly was not expected to look the other way when the chief executive overstepped his bounds.

    “The crux of the impeachment saga will emerge soon. We were here when he emerged by sheer brute force and brigandage against all contending PDP aspirants.

    “There is no escape route, either we do it by impeachment or by the court, either way he is going. If I were him, I would resign honourably.”

     

  • Impeachment: No escape route for Fayose – APC elders

    Impeachment: No escape route for Fayose – APC elders

    The Elders’ Forum in the Ekiti State chapter of the All Progressives Congress has declared that there is no escape route for the state Governor Ayo Fayose in the impeachment process initiated by 19 members of the state House of Assembly.

    The body said Fayose has serially breached the Constitution, desecrated the esteemed office he occupies and should be ready to face the consequences of his actions.

    The Publicity Secretary of Ekiti APC Elders Forum, Dr. Bayo Orire, who made the group’s position known on Tuesday, also warned the military and the police against being used to hinder the lawmakers from carrying out their constitutional functions.

    Condemning the military for turning back the 19 APC lawmakers from entering Ado-Ekiti, the state capital on Tuesday, Orire said the party’s elder body was concerned about an alleged open partisanship of officers and men of the Nigerian Army on the matter.

    He also said the police and the Army should not be watching helplessly for hoodlums to seize the whole state and interfere with the constitutional duties of the Assembly members.

    Dr. Orire explained that the lawmakers should not be blamed for signing and forwarding an impeachment notice against Fayose, saying a responsible House of Assembly was not expected to look the other way when the chief executive was overstepping his bounds.

    He said Fayose has violated the oath he swore to defend the Constitution and not do anything to infringe on the rule of law, urging the people of the state not to see the action of the lawmakers as an attack on the governor but to save the state from impunity and sliding into an “irredeemable dictatorship.”

    The APC elders’ spokesman maintained that whatever constitutional action taken by the 19 lawmakers remain legitimate, legal and binding since they have met and surpassed the two-third majority needed to remove an erring governor.

    .

  • Schools shut as Fayose’s loyalists seize Assembly

    Schools shut as Fayose’s loyalists seize Assembly

    APC hails drivers for rejecting call to join protest

    Ekiti State Governor Ayo Fayose continued yesterday his desperate battle to stave off impeachment.

    There was tension in Ado-Ekiti, the state capital. Many schools remained shut at the opening of a new term.

    Fayose’s supporters  stormed the vicinity of the House of Assembly, protesting the impeachment proceedings launched by 19 All Progressives Congress (APC) lawmakers.

    Fayose has been running the state with seven Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) lawmakers.

    The APC lawmakers sent an impeachment notice to Fayose and his deputy, Kolapo Olusola, accusing them of gross misconduct in the performance of their official functions.

    They wrote to the Chief Judge, Justice Ayodeji Daramola, after a special sitting, directing him to set up a seven-man panel to investigate the alleged gross misconduct.

    Fayose, in a broadcast on Sunday, said that the Dr. Adewale Omirin-led APC Assembly members were planning to storm the complex. He urged his supporters to beseige the place and frustrate the plot to remove him from office.

    The governor, who spoke in Yoruba charged PDP members, drivers, commercial motorcyclists (okada), market women and other interest groups to rise and defend the mandate they gave him at last year’s election.

    Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) members from all the 16 local government areas stormed the Assembly complex, vowing to stop Fayose’s removal.

    The PDP loyalists, who were mobilised by local government caretaker chairmen, chanted the PDP slogan – power and rained curses on the APC legislators whom they accused of harbouring plots to set the state on fire with the impeachment proceedings.

    The Assembly complex was under lock and key. Heavily armed policemen blocked all the major roads linking the complex. The few vehicles that were allowed passage were thoroughly checked and passers-by frisked by security agency.

    The Assembly complex was like a marketplace when reporters visited at about 11.00 am.

    Most of the civil servants working in ministries, departments and agencies with offices in nearby State Secretariat stayed away from work for what they described as “security concerns”.

    Unlike the previous protests, major roads of Ado-Ekiti were not blocked. Shops and markets were opened.But schools did not open.

    Pupils and students were sent back home in Ado and Ikere.

    Many parents, apparently reacting to the tension generated by Fayose’s broadcast, kept their wards.

    The situation affected both public and private.

    Some of the few ones that opened for third term resumption had to politely send back parents and their wards, on the excuse that the coast was not yet clear as far as safety of lives and property was concerned.

    A parent, Mrs. Ajoke Ifeoluwa, said she decided to keep her three children attending a prominent private secondary school in Ado-Ekiti at home because she received a text from the school authorities on Sunday, shifting the resumption date till today as a result of security concerns. Another parent said: “What is the problem of these people?  I paid my children’s fees at the bank last week, hoping that they will resume this morning only to meet the gate shut.”

    The state chapter of the APC praised drivers and okada riders “for refusing to obey Fayose’s inciting order to foment trouble over alleged plan by lawmakers of the party to storm the Assembly with thugs to remove the governor”.

    They said the drivers and okada riders were right to have shunned the protest so as not be used as cannon fodder “while the governor’s children are kept in safety and luxury abroad”.

    APC Publicity Secretary Taiwo Olatubosun praised the transport workers for their courage and wisdom, saying it is callous for a man to put fellow human beings in harm’s way over protection of his interest while keeping his own children out of danger to enjoy safety in luxury.

    “We praise the drivers and motorcycle operators for their courage and wisdom. Fayose is used to protecting his own interest and keeping his children in safety.

    “The day he was first impeached in 2006, he asked his supporters to meet at Fajuyi to confront the soldiers. It was later that his supporters discovered that the governor had bolted in the booth of his car to safety while his supporters were tear-gassed with several of them wounded,” Olatubosun said.

    The APC spokesman said the matter at hand was not about partisanship but about the abuse of the constitution, and wondered why Fayose believed he must win through violence all the time he tramples on the

    “He first led thugs to sack the court and beat up a judge while court records in the Chief Judge’s office were torn. The Chief Judge’s secretary was beaten. Now, he openly made a live broadcast in the state media, inciting his supporters to an act of insurrection by disallowing the lawmakers to do their lawful duties.

    “Even during Sunday service in the church, Faýyose, to the shock of everyone, was inciting worshippers to protect the mandate they gave him through violent resistance to the lawmakers. Why must a governor

    choose violence as a religion? Olatubosun said.

  • Impeachment: Fayose’s supporters lay siege to Assembly complex

    Impeachment: Fayose’s supporters lay siege to Assembly complex

    Supporters of Ekiti State Governor, Ayo Fayose, on Monday stormed the vicinity of the House of Assembly complex to protest the commencement of impeachment proceedings against him by 19 All Progressives Congress lawmakers.

    The lawmakers had forwarded an impeachment notice to Fayose and his deputy, Kolapo Olusola, accusing them of gross misconduct in the performance of their official functions.

    The lawmakers also wrote to the state’s Chief Judge, Justice Ayodeji Daramola, after a special sitting, urging the head of judiciary to set up a seven-man panel to investigate the alleged gross misconduct.

    Fayose had on Sunday in a broadcast alleged that the Dr. Adewale Omirin-led APC Assembly members were planning to storm the Assembly complex on Monday, urging his supporters to go to the place and frustrate the plot to remove him from office.

    The governor, who spoke in Yoruba, charged his party members, drivers, okada riders, market women and other interest groups to defend the mandate they gave to him in last year’s governorship election.

    Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) members from all the 16 local government areas stormed the Assembly complex area in compliance with Fayose’s directive, vowing that they would not allow opposition forces to remove him from power.

    The PDP loyalists who were mobilized to the Assembly complex by local government caretaker chairmen chanted party slogan and rained curses on the APC legislators whom they accused of harbouring plots to set the state on fire with the impeachment proceedings.

    The Assembly complex was under lock and key, while stern-looking heavily armed policemen blocked all the major roads linking to the complex. Few vehicles that were allowed passage were thoroughly checked and passers-by frisked by security agencies.

    The PDP loyalists clustered around the vicinity of the Assembly, they were not allowed near the parliament building by armed security men drafted to the complex.

    They defied the scorching sun for the greater part of the day and sang abusive songs calling the APC legislators names. They said they had come to occupy the House and keep vigil to frustrate any impeachment plot against Fayose.

  • Fayose to APC lawmakers: we’re ready for you

    Fayose to APC lawmakers: we’re ready for you

    Ekiti State Governor Ayo Fayose has said he is  ‘’waiting for the 19 All Progressives Congress (APC) lawmakers’’, with his supporters.

    This followed rumours that the lawmakers will resume legislative duties today.

    The governor said the impeachment saga had won him more public sympathy and popularity.

    But the APC lawmakers  warned Fayose to stop inciting the people into violence, saying his latest action showed he did not want to resolve the crisis.

    The governor spoke yesterday at a thanksgiving to mark his last Tuesday’s  victory at the Supreme Court.

    During the service at the Cathedral Church of Emmanuel (Anglican Communion), Okesa, Ado-Ekiti, the state capital, he said his return to power after eight years was an “act of God”, noting that the survival or otherwise of his administration would be determined by God.

    Fayose spoke following reports that he begged the 19 lawmakers, who accused him of committing eight impeachable offences, saying his latest peace move was done because he is the leader of the state.

    But he maintained that waving the Olive branch should not be misconstrued for cowardice.

    “Waving the Olive branch does not mean cowardice. Truth is bitter. Pastors should tell reporters not to twist the truth, but say it as it should. I am hidden in Christ in God. This is why I stood the test of time, despite the odds.  It is God who has done this.

    “When I contested for Senate, they said I lost and I did not fight anyone. I did not go to the tribunal and I said good things about the government then.

    “Making common people my priority has been my sins.  I don’t do fetish things I depend on God, my enemies always make me win by getting the people’s sympathy for me. If God has established this government, it will not crumble.

    “ They said they are coming tomorrow (Monday), we will be expecting them.”

    The Dean of the Cathedral, Rev Francis Bankole, urged the feuding parties to bury their differences and work together to develop the state.

    Bankole, who urged the people to support the government, also advised the governor to rule with the fear of God.

    Warning the governor not to incite residents, the APC lawmakers, in a statement by the Special Adviser on Media to Speaker Adewale Omirin, Wole Olujobi, said the governor demonstrated he was not committed to the peace he preached barely 24 hours before his inciting broadcast.

    “How do you reconcile this inciting broadcast with a plea he made for peace not quite 24 hours earlier, which Ekiti people and indeed Nigerians thought was a good move to thaw the frozen relationship between him and the lawmakers?

    “This is a confirmation of what Dr Omirin said in his Sunday Punch interview that the governor can’t be trusted in any peace move,” the statement said.

    “It is shocking that the governor, who refused to make any remark or commitment after the cleric appealed to him to embrace peace, could go on air a few minutes after the service to incite workers, traders, Okada riders and artisans to defend him with their last drop of blood.

    “As if his inciting live broadcast was not enough, Ekiti people were shocked when a public service announcement started running intermittently on the state media, urging Okada riders to look out for strange faces and attack them because they are thugs imported by APC lawmakers.

    “They are also to converge on the House of Assembly at 6 am today to prevent the lawmakers from performing their legal duties,” the statement added.

    Saying they were not planning any invasion, the lawmakers called the attention of Nigerians to the unlawful acts of the governor.

    “We have said for the umpteenth time that the governor would be given a fair hearing. He has nothing to fear. He should continue to have faith in the constitution.

    “He had just won a constitutional matter at the Supreme Court. We will apply the same law that the court used to give him victory. He is an Ekiti man. We don’t hope to punish him unjustly,” the statement added.

    The statement said Fayose could not benefit from the law and at the same time prevent other elected representatives from enjoying the same benefit.

    “The best he and his deputy can do is to appear before the panel to be set up by the chief judge and defend themselves. This is the rule of law which he has benefited from and there should not be an exception to this.”

  • APC Action Group flays Supreme Court judgment

    APC Action Group flays Supreme Court judgment

    The Action Group Caucus of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ekiti State has flawed the April 14 Supreme Court judgment, which validated the victory of Governor Ayo Fayose.

    It described it as miscarriage of justice, which cannot stand the test of time.

    The group, in a statement by its spokesperson, Segun Dipe, assured that it will continue to search for peace and justice in the state.

    “We express shock and dismay that Fayose could be judged as winning the heavily flawed election, despite all the glaring evidence, which pointed to the contrary.

    “Notwithstanding the decision of the apex court, which has further exposed the weak link in our judiciary, we will continue to tell the world that  Fayose’s victory is fluke and pyrrhic.

    “He did not win the election and the world knows it. The election was a charade.

    “We, in the APC AG caucus, however, affirm our respect for the courts and cherish the notion that the Supreme Court is the apex jurisdiction on all legal disputes.

    “In line with our right to freedom of speech, we wish to express our shock at the position of the Supreme Court and also to draw the attention of the public and the international community to what we consider as very serious flaws in the pronouncement of the Supreme Court.

    “We observed that the judgment came even in the face of overwhelming evidence that raise fundamental questions on Ayodele Fayose’s eligibility and the evident plots, intrigues and fraudulent conspiracies of a section of security operatives.

    “We are worried about Fayose’s several other obvious gross misconducts and nasty violations of not only the sacred norms of the constitution, but also the age-long values held in the highest esteem by Ekiti people.

    “Other critical issues that will continue to prick the conscience of all rational, democratic and right thinking people, include the locking out of 19 lawmakers duly elected by Ekiti people, preventing them from sitting, in the House of Assembly.

    “Passing of the budget, appointing of commissioners and running legislative functions with only seven of the 26 elected lawmakers have shown how Fayose affirmed his authority on our silent but grieving people.

    “This will continue to attract public disdain and outrage, more so, given the naked audio evidence provided by Capt Sagir Koli, which gave a graphic account of how the last June 21election was manipulated in favour of Mr Fayose.”