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Tag: Oni

  • Oni, Fayemi, Aregbe and politics of character

    Without any fear of inaccuracy, I was the first person in the media industry-both national and foreign-to have an exclusive interview with Engr. Segun Oni after his swearing-in as the governor of Ekiti State in 2007. The interview happened less than a month after he settled down for the serious business of governance. The interview was a no-holds barred and I asked then Governor Oni many questions. Not minding the political tendency on which I may be leaning as he was meeting me for the first time-having been introduced by Dr. Samuel Arowolaju (a senior friend) as a media guy from the United States, he answered my questions candidly and without mincing words.

    Some of the questions revolved around his predecessor, now governor-elect Ayodele Fayose and he said more than a mouthful. Hear him: “On the 29th of September, 2005 we had a meeting that was to become a rally somewhere along Falegan Estate area. We actually had a peaceful meeting but the police came in nonetheless. They said Governor Fayose had prepared an agenda to get some of us. They came to get me and fired some rubber bullets…They kicked me, beat me up and I was dragged on the main road of this (Ado-Ekiti) city and thrown into a vehicle. People were watching from afar. The police thought they’ve thrown my lifeless body inside the vehicle but when they realized that I wasn’t dead they took me to the police station and sprayed teargas on me. They wanted to spray the teargas into my nostrils but I told the guy if he did that I would die and the policemen watching him are the ones who would give evidence against him and he would never get out of it.”

    I asked the then governor if he was contemplating revenge since he then occupied the same office his predecessor allegedly used to attempt to snuff life out of him. The governor said: “The only lesson I took away from that unfortunate incident is that power is very transient. You see, when you have power and you refuse to use it based on your whims you enhance its value.”(Italics mine for emphasis). I never stopped thinking about this last sentence since as reflecting the man’s strength of character.

    A different aura, as if issued from the core of his being, enveloped Ekiti State when John Kayode Fayemi took over the mantle of leadership. The calm that descended on the state, which reflected the persona of Fayemi was palpable. Scrupulous Nigerian entrepreneurs and the international community saw in him his genuineness and started to set up shops in the state so much that billions have been sunk into hospitality and other service businesses by private investors. The governor will probably go down in the 18-years’ history of the state as the only governor that continued with the projects of his predecessor, despite the very painful and tortuous experience to which he was subjected in regaining his mandate. On assumption, he became the first governor in this dispensation to declare his assets and that of his wife. The governor declared an eight-point agenda as a blueprint of his administration that not only touches every socio-economic strata of society, but also implemented virtually all the points and sub-points on the agenda during his tenure. This remarkable feat earned him the sobriquet of “O wi bee, O se bee” which literally translated into “He said it, did it”. As part of rebranding the state along the lines of the values that he holds dear, Ekiti state is now known as “Ile Iyi, Ile Eye,” a phrase that embodies a virtuous state that I hope the new helmsman will keep.

    Osun State was a violent and highly traumatized state on its way to a bottomless perdition when Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola took over its administration. It was a beleaguered state not because it is socio-culturally disposed to brigandage, but because a class of its own people was attempting to take away its very soul. On his assumption of office, Aregbesola decided -almost from Day One of his administration-to take the road less travelled. This earned him the description of an unusual man running an unusual government. He believes that a people, as that organic structure that makes up society, must coalesce around some core principles which must of necessity become their ethos if they must realize their collective destiny. The state was also rebranded along this line of thought.

    His administration created a crest, a Coat of Arm, a flag and a state anthem that the country’s central authority stuck in its primordial hunter and gatherer political disposition accused him of trying to secede from the republic. The governor did not stop there. A state known as the “State of the Living Spring” became known as a “State of the Virtuous.” He has been described by people from various walks of life to be a “scrupulously honest and humble” chief of state, which probably contributed in no small measure to his victory at the recent poll for a second term. I have given the synopses of this trio in order to identify a common thread that runs through them. And this is the character thread.

    Much has been said by political scientists and pundits that one of the major reasons why the All Progressives Congress(APC) has been unable to gain significant traction so far is because of its inability to anchor its existence on a political ideology or an identity. It should look no further. The opposition political party should make character the lifeblood that gives it sustenance. Character should be seen by the people as what distinguishes it from the ruling party. It should be seen as its main pillar. It should be the first identifier of the party’s candidates for electoral offices from henceforth. This time tested virtue should be its brand.

    As much as Nigeria has been touted as having the largest and the most promising economy in the continent, much of the rest of the world still will not touch her even with a long pole because the country’s government and its people are deemed as hopelessly corrupt and lacking in character. Therefore, injecting character into the body politic will most definitely reverse the self-destructive trajectory of a pathetic country such as Nigeria. Other social pillars of justice, fairness and equity that must be present to lend support to the growth and sustenance of any society can only thrive with the presence of character. A nation without character is a living dead.  They say that character is really what you do when no one is looking. I will add that it is also when one is willing to go against the grain because the values that one represents will be seriously compromised or impaired, as exemplified by the people of the State of Osun when they overwhelmingly voted for the presidential candidate of the party they identified with in 2011 even when they knew that his chances of winning was hopelessly low.

     

     

    •  Odere is a media practitioner. He can be reached at femiodere@gmail.com.

  • Filani, Oni warm up for PDP national vice chairmanship

    The Southwest Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Caretaker Committee Chairman, Chief Ishola Filani, has declared his ambition for the national vice chairmanship of the party.

    The zonal congress, according to the caretaker committee, would hold in Ibadan, shortly before the national convention billed for Abuja.

    The outcome of the Ibadan election will be ratified or rejected by the convention, based on the PDP constitution.

    Party sources said Filani would slug it out with former Ekiti State Governor Segun Oni, who was shoved aside from the National Executive Committee (NEC), following complaints that the zonal congress that produced him in Osogbo, the Osun State capital, did not follow the laid down rules.

    However, a prominent PDP chieftain in Ekiti State said Oni, who was supported by former President Olusegun Obasanjo, might withdraw from the race for personal reasons. “The position is zoned to Ekiti. Both Filani and Oni are from Ekiti. Oni is a gentleman and since it appears President Goodluck Jonathan and the National Chairman, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, are backing Filani, he may not contest again”.

    Before his appointment as the Southwest PDP interim chairman, Filani was a special adviser to Tukur. Although he is not a member of the Obasanjo camp, he has respected the former President as a key factor in the ruling party. Recently, he also engaged the Board of Trustees (BoT) member, Commodore Bode George (rtd), in a war of words, describing him as a drowning politician.

    Following the declaration of intention by Filani, who is the Asiwaju of Egbeobaland, the party has appointed a chieftain from Lagos, Mr. Deji Doherty, to act as the caretaker chairman.

    However, the contest for the national secretary has polarised the Southwest, following the moves by Prof. Tunde Adeniran, Mr. Owolabi Salis and Dr. Remi Akitoye to contest against the zonal consensus candidate, Prof. Olu Oladipo, who was endorsed for the position at a party meeting in Lagos.

    It is believed that the position was zoned to Osun State, where Oladipo and the former national secretary, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, come from. But Doherty explained that if other aspirants-Adeniran (Ekiti), Salis and Akitoye (Lagos)-insist that they will participate in the race, they are at liberty to exercise their rights.

    Oyinlola is still in court to reclaim the seat, claiming that the report of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on the PDP congresses and convention did not find fault with his election as the national secretary at the zonal congress.

    Doherty said the zone is ready for the special congress and the convention, adding that PDP will emerge a stronger party after the exercise.

    He added: “Chief Filani has stepped aside as the Southwest Caretaker Committee chairman of the party to contest for the position of the national vice chairman. The congress where the election will take place will hold in Ibadan, Oyo State at a date to be announced soon.

    “For the position of the national secretary, which is also zoned to the Southwest, Prof. Olu Oladipo is the consensus candidate. There are others aspirants, who are warming up. They have the right to participate in the election too”.

  • A visa bond of trouble

    From all indications, the British government may have, at least for the time being, backed off from its earlier proposal to impose a ‘punitive’ £3,000 (N730,000) visa bond on travellers from a group of six Afro-Asian countries deemed to pose “high risk” of immigration abuse. Last week, UK’s The Guardian quoted a member of the Liberal Democrats, the coalition partner of the ruling conservative government as saying that the policy has not been “signed off’. However, far from suggesting that the proposal was off the table, he gave hint that the government still agreed in principle with the policy although he noted that the “exact details of how it is to be piloted, including the size of the bond, is still being discussed in the government”.

    In other words, whether the six countries affected by the policy likes it or not, the visa bond policy which targets India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nigeria and Ghana — all non-white Commonwealth nations may have come to stay.

    The collective outrage by the nationals of the affected countries about a measure they considered as discriminatory, although understandable is somewhat misdirected. To start with, visas are by their nature inherently discriminatory; countries put visa regimes in place to restrict the influx of immigrants into their territory. It is elementary that not every one that applies for a visa ever gets one, including applicants ordinarily deemed as qualified!

    What are the arguments against the measure? That Her Majesty’s government, as leader and primus inter pares in the Commonwealth has no business imposing such patently unfair visa regimes on fellow commonwealth members? And that because of the rich historic ties between her and the group of six, the measures are simply unfair! In the first place, those who bandy the argument obviously forget or chose to forget, that the sun of the British Empire is said to have set in different parts several decades ago. It set in India and Pakistan in 1947; Sri Lanka 1948; Ghana in 1957; Nigeria 1960, Bangladesh 1971. Just as it seems fashionable for my generation to recall a time when they needed no visas to travel to Britain, part of the problem is the temptation to relapse into nostalgia; to reset the relations buttons to the 60s and the 70s!

    The issue here is that Her Majesty’s Government has already determined that the targeted countries posed high risk of immigration abuse! That is the judgment by a sovereign government to which they are entitled! Shouldn’t we have spared ourselves the emotionalism while making the case that our citizens seeking sojourn in UK are model citizens?

    Today, the global economy is in a flux; In UK for instance, youth unemployment is 7.8 percent, moderate by the standard of its peers in Western Europe. Before the global crisis, it was a little over five percent. The International Labour Organisation (ILO) for instance reports that the number of people looking for work for over a year has more than doubled since 2007, up from 391,000 to more than 902,000.

    Like America, the subject of immigration remains a hot button one. A Britisher put the issue in perspective when he observed rather wryly: “You don’t need a PhD to understand that when the number of unemployed people vastly outnumbers the number of job vacancies, and public housing stock is under huge strain, it’s a very bad idea not to radically restrict immigration. This isn’t rocket science”.

    So, is the £3,000 the answer to the immigration problem?

    I agree that the policy lacks rigour. What it does is adjudge the potential traveller as guilty until proven otherwise. Moreover, the act of singling out of six countries as “high risk” immigration violators is apparently in bad taste. And if you ask me, it is unlikely to deter the potential illegal immigrant; it simply jerks up the cost of procuring the exit card!

    However, I think the problem is that we pay too much attention to what the Brits are doing to fix their problem. My problem is that we are not even about to start dealing with ours which is to fundamentally address the question of why our youths have found the lure of foreign pastures irresistible despite the dangers and frustrations, or why many would readily pay the ultimate price than stay to work things out.

    Last week for instance, we heard Foreign Minister Gbenga Ashiru swear to “defend the interest of Nigerians by whatever means we can”. With what? A tit-for-tat wouldn’t be a bad proposition except that in our circumstance, it would be a most laughable one. What would that amount to given that the migration is almost wholly one-way?

    I say take it easy; we have seen similar posturing before. Didn’t one minister, Stella Oduah once threaten to ban British Airways from flying the Nigerian airspace over claims of unfair discriminatory practices? Has the world ended since the threat came to no effect?

    At the root of our problem is governance. We churn out graduates into a labour market already bursting in its seams. We cannot even guarantee admission for our children in higher institutions preferring instead to outsource admissions to Ghana, Ukraine and other foreign universities. In the last Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination UTME held in April for instance, of the 1.7million that sat for the exam, only 520,000 spaces are said to be available – less than a third. For our army of youngsters, theirs is an annual sentencing into an uncertain, bleak future.

    If you ask me, I’ll insist that our enemy is within; at least the Brits are not nearly the enemy we think they are – not anywhere those foreign investors who pose as friends but act like fiends by bringing in labour for jobs that locals can conveniently do.

    As always, the point must be borne in mind that the right to travel is nowhere guaranteed; not even in No-Man’s-Land.

  • Joko Oni hits 60

    Joko Oni hits 60

    One of the pillars of high society, Joko Oni, will clock 60 in the next couple of days. But you would hardly notice it because of the sophisticated nature of the boss of Gold Rush whose life is guided by the philosophy that only good deeds last.

    With a smile that hardly vanishes from her lips, she enjoys a pretty physique that has improved with age. As usual, she would be all smiles as the high and mighty in the nation’s socio-political milieu gather in a few days to honour her. Little wonder preparations for the big day are in full throttle in her house.

    With friends in high places, nothing short of a grand 60th birthday is expected.

  • Lawmaker urges Oni to support governor

    •Fayose: judgment won’t dampen our morale 

    The member representing Ekiti Central Constituency I in the House of Representatives, Mr. Opeyemi Bamidele, has congratulated Ekiti State Governor Kayode Fayemi on his victory at the Supreme Court.

    Bamidele said the judgment “is a victory for the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and a quantum leap for our legal process and the growth of our democracy”.

    He said: “I congratulate Fayemi on the outcome of the suit. No doubt, the judgment is a victory for the ACN and a quantum leap for our legal process and the growth of our democracy.

    “In the same vein, I commend Mr. Segun Oni for reposing his confidence in the judicial process as the credible alternative to street action and for his doggedness in pursuing his grievances to a logical conclusion.

    “Now that the highest court of the land has finally laid this matter to rest, my patriotic call to Oni, on behalf of well meaning Ekiti sons and daughters as well as stakeholders of our democracy, is for him to support the Fayemi administration in addressing the critical needs of Ekiti people through good governance, massive job creation, continued infrastructural development, quality education and health care services, agrarian revolution and the growth of the Ekiti economy, among others.

    “I urge Fayemi to jettison the idea of probing the Oni administration. As tempting as it might sound, it would be much more distracting than even the law suit. This is moreso when one realises that Ekiti politics in the last decade has been characterised by vindictiveness and retaliatory policies and attitudes that have ended up placing the state in a Barber’s chair that goes round and round ad infinitum without moving the state any inch forward.

    “The truth about Ekiti is that in the last 17 years of its creation, many things have happened and stunted its growth to the disappointment of the founding fathers and well meaning indigenes, many of who have become heart broken and frustrated.

    “Beyond rhetorics, this is definitely the time to bury the hatchet and ensure that all hands are on deck to save Ekiti from becoming a failed State. Regardless of our political affiliation and ideological divides, this is the time for all of us to work together to heal the broken hearts and create a new and united Ekiti. United we stand as a people, divided we fall. The time to heal Ekiti is now!”

    Also yesterday, former Ekiti State Governor Ayodele Fayose said the judgment would not “dampen the morale” of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship aspirants.

    Fayose spoke at his campaign office in Ado-Ekiti, the state capital, at the inauguration of Mr. Owoseni Ajayi as the Director-General of his campaign organisation.

    Ajayi is a former Chairman of the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA), Ekiti chapter.

    Fayose, who is seeking the party’s governorship ticket, said: “The judgment would strengthen the party and our resolve.”

    He said the ongoing agitation for zoning by a section of the party would not work as far as the 2014 election is concerned.

    Fayose said: “It would be stupid for any aspirant to think I would step down for him in the name of zoning. There will be a free, fair and credible primary for every formidable candidate that can withstand the heat to emerge.”

    He promised to “organise free overseas medical care for pensioners and pay the 27.5 per cent salary increase demanded by teachers”, if elected.

    Ajayi urged Fayose’s supporters to work for his success. He said: “We must not just sit by and think victory would come our way. We must go out and work.”

     

  • Oni: I’m ready to be probed

    Ousted Ekiti State ‘Governor’ Segun Oni has told Governor Kayode Fayemi to go ahead and probe his (Oni’s) administration.

    Oni was reacting to Fayemi’s statement that he would probe the Oni administration, which began on May 29, 2007, and was ousted on October 15, 2010.

    Fayemi made the statement at the weekend while addressing a crowd at the Government House in Ado-Ekiti, the state capital, after the Supreme Court dismissed Oni’s petition seeking to oust him (Fayemi).

    The governor said: “With the conclusion of this case, they should be ready to account for the money they stole, the contracts they used to siphon our money and all the micro-credit money they stole.”

    In a statement by his media aide, Mr. Lere Olayinka, Oni said he was ready “for probe by anyone”.

    He said: “This time, Fayemi must make real his threat. If he does not, we will get the court to compel him to do so. However, he must not be the one to appoint those who will carry out the probe because his administration must also be probed.”

    Oni urged Fayemi to institute an independent panel, comprising representatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC), Institute of Chattered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN), Association of National Accountants of Nigeria (ANAN), Nigeria Bar Association (NBA), Transparency International (TI) and other relevant agencies, to probe his administration.

    The candidate of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in last October’s governorship election in Ondo State, Mr. Rotimi Akeredolu (SAN), at the weekend, hailed the dismissal of Oni’s petition.

    In a statement, Akeredolu said: “The Supreme Court has confirmed the overwhelming rejection of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) by the people of Ekiti State. The apex court declined to assume jurisdiction in the vexatious suit instituted to distract the real government of the people.

    “I salute the courage of the justices of the Supreme Court, who rightly rejected the non suit. The real victory was recorded when the Court of Appeal booted out the usurpers of the mandate of the people and installed the people’s choice.

    “The pretenders to popular mandate spun all manners of perfidious yarn to create confusion. The culmination of all this contrivance was the wicked and unfounded allegation against Justice Ayo Salami, the President of the Court of Appeal, by these desperate elements.

    “I congratulate Fayemi and wish him more years of purposeful service to the people.”

    It was not clear last night what the probe of Oni would cover.

    But a verification panel set up by the Fayemi administration earlier indicted Oni for mismanaging the dairy farm at Ikun-Ekiti.

    Many cows were imported from South Africa with several millions of dollars and kept in the farm, but the animals were nowhere to be found when Fayemi assumed office.

    As at 2010, the Ado-Ekiti/Ifaki road was only 20 per cent completed, even though the government had paid the contractor 80 per cent upfront.

    The multi-million micro-credit scheme was also found to have been mishandled.

  • Oni loses bid to unseat Fayemi

    Oni loses bid to unseat Fayemi

    Former Ekiti State Governor, Olusegun Oni of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) yesterday lost in his bid to unseat the incumbent, Kayode Fayemi of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN).

    The Supreme Court upheld the respondents’ objection and struck out the appeal Oni filed seeking to reverse the October 15, 2010 of the Court of Appeal, Ilorin, which sacked him from office.

    Justice Nwali Sylvester Ngwuta, in the lead judgment, held that the court lacked the jurisdictional competence to hear Oni’s appeal.

    The judge agreed with Fayemi’s legal team’s argument that the appeal, having emanated from the decision of the Court of Appeal, in a governorship election dispute over an election held in 2007 the apex court can not hear it by virtue of Section 246(3) of the Constitution.

    Section 246(3) states that “the decisions of the Court of Appeal from the National and State Houses of Assembly election shall be final.”

    Oni had appealed against the decision of the Court of Appeal, Ilorin, whilch nullified his election and on which basis he was sacked and Fayemi sworn into ofice as governor. He had, among others, prayed the apex court for an order setting aside the judgment; an order directing a fresh panel of the Court of Appeal to hear the appeal against the result of the Ekiti governorhsip election of 2007.

    Oni had hinged his appeal on the grounds that the October 15, 2010 judgment was delivered without jurisdiction and in breach of his right to fair hearing; that the judgment was a nullity, havin been predetermined and delivered through a panel which has close afinity with Fayemi and his party.

    The respondents–Fayemi, his party, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and three of its Resident Electoral Officers (sued as first to sixth respondents)–filed notices of preliminary objection.

    They relied on the provision of Section 246(3) of the Constitution and challenged the jurisdiction of the apex court to hear Oni’s apeal, on the ground that the section provides that in respect of disputes over governorship, national and House of Assembly elections, the decision of the Court of Apeal is final.

    They argued that by that provision, the apex court lacked the jurisdiction to entertain an appeal that emanated from a governorship election that was held in 2007. Oni had while responding to the objection relied on the provision of Section 36 of the Constitution and urged the court to dismiss the objection and hear his appeal on merit. Justice Ngwuta held that by their argument, both sides set the provisions of sections 36(1) and 246(3) on a collision course.

    He disagreed with Oni’s lawyer’s argument that the appeal didnot arise from election petition, but on issues of misdirection, likelihood of bias, and breach of the apellant’s fair hearing provided for under section 36 of the Constitution.

    The judge faulted the appellants’ argument that the appeal did not arise from the 2007 election when his ultimate aim in filing the appeal was to be returned to the Ekiti Government House as governor.

    “The appellants’ entire case, when stripped of its extravagant build-ups and reduced to its proper frame, is simply an invitation to rely on Section 36(1) of the 1999Constitution to strip the ruling of the Court of Appeal of the finality granted to it by Section 246(3) of the same Constitution.

    “In other words, the appellants want us to rely on Section 36(1) of the 1999 Constitution to invalidate or render inoperative the finality clause in Section 246(3) of the same Constitution.

    “In diverse decisions on appeals relating to Section 285(7) of the Constitution (as amended), this court has constantly declined to derogate from, close its eyes to, depart from, modify or set aside expressly or by implication, a provision of the Constitution under any guise or pretext. “Any derogation from one section thereof in preference to another section is not only extraneous to the Constitution, but a violation of the solemn oath undertaken by all judges to defend andprotect it.

    “The court does not hunger after jurisdiction. It can expound, but should not under any circumstance, such as the one presented in this case, expand its jurisdiction.

    “The court has no jurisdiction to hear the appeal, and consequently, I sustain the 1st-2nd and 3rd-6th respondents’ preliminary objection on want of jurisdiction. The appeal is accordingly struck out,” Justice Ngwuta held. The other six members of the seven-man panel that heard the appeal agreed with the lead judgment.

  • Why I went to Supreme Court –Oni

    Why I went to Supreme Court –Oni

    Former Ekiti State governor, Chief Segun Oni, has said that he took hie election petition against his successor, Governor Kayode Fayemi, to the Supreme Court in an effort to restore sanity to the judiciary.

    Oni, who spoke yesterday at a thanksgiving service held at the Methodist Church of Nigeria, Tabernacle of Praise in his hometown of Ifaki Ekiti, said the the judiciary was being bastardised by unscrupulous judges, adding that he had accepted the latest judgment as an act of God.

    He said: “ After the Appeal Court judgment in Ilorin, I felt disenchanted and I went to the Appeal Court to seek reversal because I felt the oppressors will be given more strength if they are not challenged. I was determined to pursue the case to the end and I thank God we have been able to achieve this because some people wished us dead along the line.

    “You can see that since people like us had risen to challenge some unbridled tendencies in the judiciary that judges and other judicial officers are now careful. They have seen that people can rise up and ask question if they felt aggrieved with their judgments.

    “Even while pursuing the case, the devil made offers, but we refused. The suit was not filed out of desperation, but was meant to infuse sanity in the system, so that Nigerians can have hope in the judiciary, the last hope of the common man..

    “At times when God wants to favour you, he will refuse to hear your prayers. We are not discouraged and not confused. We also are proud to have done what we did.

    “We saw we have been wronged and we refused to keep quiet. The judgment we received was wrong and we decided to pursue it to the last. We did not have the effort but we kept pursuing it.

    “We knew there was a probablillity of pursuing and not catching up and catching up without having the power to overpower and take away that we felt belonged to us. We were not playing games. During the struggle, the devil made offers to us which we refused.

    “The revolution has not ended. When people come out of the courts with a loss, they will be satisfied that justice has been done. Its a step in the process. We will be on the rostrum to tell the people to vote against bad government. We are grateful to the Almighty God for doing this for us. The struggle continues, victoria acerta.

    In their own reactions, the former Governor of Ekiti State and Chieftain of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Otunba Niyi Adebayo and Chairman of the party in the state, Chief Jide Awe, said the Supreme Court had shown that “the temple of justice is not meant for frivolous cases.”

    Adebayo urged Oni to see the latest ruling as an opportunity for him to support Governor Fayemi in the effort to build a greater Ekiti, which every resident of the state could be proud of.

    Chief Awe noted that the judgment had validated what had always been the position of the defence team that by 2007, all petitions relating to elections had ended at the Appeal Court.

    He said Engr. Oni should accept the judgment as the voice of God and those of the people, adding that the administration had always had faith in the judiciary as the bastion of hope.

    He also urged residents and party faithful to join the current administration in its march towards building a greater Ekiti through its eight-point agenda.

    Senator Ayo Arise, in his own reaction, said the seven-member Supreme Court justices “acted on the side of caution and constitution, rather than giving a novel judgment.

    He added that the case could have offered the apex court an opportunity to adjudicate and deliver a judgment which could be regarded as a landmark.

    He said: “We have accepted the outcome of the verdict . We abide by it and it is law. Today, it did not work for us based on the constitution, so we cannot fault the judgement.”

  • Supreme Court rules on Oni’s suit today

    The Supreme Court will today rule on whether or not the October 15, 2010, Appeal Court Judgment, which declared Dr. Kayode Fayemi winner of the 2007 governorship election in Ekiti State, was biased.

    The Justice Isa Ayo Salami-led appeal panel held that the poll was marred by irregularities and ousted the administration of Mr. Segun Oni of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who was earlier declared winner of the election.

    On March 14, 2011, Oni and the PDP filed an application at the Appeal Court in Ado-Ekiti, the state capital, urging it to set aside the judgment that ousted him.

    Tthe Appeal Court dismissed the application on February 27, last year, and the appellants approached the Supreme Court.

    Oni is seeking an order quashing the judgments of the two courts; the constitution of a fresh panel to hear the election petition and an order directing the House of Assembly Speaker to take over governance of Ekiti State, pending the determination of the appeal.

    The seven-man panel, chaired by Justice Tanko Muhammad, will rule on the applications today.

    The Commissioner of Police, Mr. Sotonye Wakama, told reporters yesterday that the parties have been warned against causing trouble in the aftermath of the judgment.

    Speaking through the command’s spokesman, Mr. Victor Babayemi, Wakama said: “We have deployed our men in strategic positions across the state to forestall any breakdown of law and order that may arise as a result of the judgment. However, we do not foresee any crisis.”

    The State Chairman of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Chief Jide Awe, said no member of his party would foment trouble, adding that no one took the law into his/her hands “even when the situation was more uncertain”.

    He said ACN had confidence in the judiciary and “would not involve in any action that would desecrate the temple of justice”.

    Oni repeatedly said the suit was not intended to ridicule the judiciary but to “expose the bias in the judgment that ousted him from office”.

  • Fayemi, INEC urge Supreme Court to ignore Oni

    Fayemi, INEC urge Supreme Court to ignore Oni

    Judgment slated for May 31

    Ekiti State Governor Kayode Fayemi and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) yesterday urged the Supreme Court to dismiss an appeal filed by ousted “Governor” Segun Oni.

    Oni is praying the court to set aside the ruling of the Court of Appeal Ado-Ekiti, which refused to hear his application seeking to set aside the October 15, 2010 judgment of the Court of Appeal, Ilorin.

    The appellate court in which sat on the Ekiti State Governorship Election Petition Appeal, removed Oni and declared Fayemi the Governor.

    About seven months after the judgment, Oni and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) filed a motion on March 14, 2011, urging the Court of Appeal, Ado- Ekiti Division, to set aside the judgment that ousted Oni.

    On February 27, the court dismissed the application and the appellants went to the apex court.

    Oni is challenging his removal on the grounds that the suspended President of the Court of Appeal (PCA), Justice Ayo Salami, who constituted and presided over the panel that sacked him, had close affinity with the National Leader of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and former Lagos State Governor, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.

    At the hearing yesterday, the seven-man panel, led by Justice Tanko Muhammad, granted the the applications by the appellants and the respondents to regularise their processes.

    It also fixed May 31 for judgment after parties adopted their briefs of argument.

    The respondents are Fayemi, ACN, Ekiti Resident Electoral Commissioner, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), INEC Chairman Prof. Attahiru Jega, the Police Commissioner and the Inspector-General of Police.

    The appellants’ counsel, Joe-Kyari Gadzama (SAN), said the issue in contention is the “likelihood of bias” against Oni by the Ilorin Appeal Court, which he said renders the judgment a nullity.

    Gadzama argued that the court did not go into the merit of the case before throwing out the motion, averring that Oni was denied a fair hearing.

    Fayemi’s counsel John Bayeshea (SAN), who appeared with Femi Falana (SAN), urged the court to dismiss the appeal for lack of jurisdiction.

    Bayeshea argued that Justice Salami and other Justices that sat on the Election Petition Appeal have been exonerated by the National Judicial Council (NJC).

    He said two members of the panel-Justices Olukayode Ariwoola and Clara Bata-Ogunbiyi-have been elevated to the Supreme Court based on their excellent performances at the lower court, so the allegations of bias have failed.

    Citing a Supreme Court judgment, Bayeshea insisted that final courts shall have final say even in interlocutory applications.

    He said: “This court has no jurisdiction to entertain this appeal, being an appeal emanating from the decision of the court below in the governorship election petition of Ekiti State, arising from the governorship election of 2007 to which Section 246 (3) of the 1999 Constitution is applicable.

    “This application is not only frivolous and an abuse of court process, it is in fact a subterfuge for an appeal in the Ekiti governorship election petition from which no appeal lies to this court under the constitutional provision that was then applicable.

    “Furthermore, the issues formulated on the purported notice of appeal in the brief of argument of the appellants do not relate to the grounds of appeal, in that they are completely at variance with the purported grounds of appeal.

    “These are multiple errors and or blunders, which in our humble opinion, with due respect, have rendered this appeal incurably bad, grossly incompetent and liable to be dismissed.”

    INEC’s counsel Ibrahim Bawa urged the court to dismiss the appeal and uphold Fayemi’s election.