Ekiti: Fayose floors Fayemi again

The Ekiti State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal,
yesterday, affirmed Governor Ayodele Fayose of the Peoples
Democratic Party, PDP, as the winner of the governorship
election held in the state on June 21.
The three-man panel which conducted its proceeding in Abuja,
dismissed the petition filed against Fayose by the All
Progressives Congress, APC.
The APC had in its petition, alleged that the election
“witnessed an unprecedented level of rigging, manipulation of
voters register and wide spread election malpractices,” as well
as queried the legal qualification of Fayose to participate in
the process.
File: Governor Ayo Fayose of Ekiti State (M), taking Oath of
Office before the Chief Judge of Ekiti, Justice Ayodeji
Daramola, in Ado-Ekiti, yesterday. With them is the governor’s
wife, Mrs Feyisetan Fayose. Photo: Dare Fasube.
The party argued that Fayose was found guilty of
embezzlement and violation of code of conduct for public
officers, in 2006, following which he was impeached from
office.
Relying on the provision of Sections 182 (1) (j) of the 1999
Constitution, as amended, the APC stated that Fayose ought
not to have been allowed to participate in the election, adding
that the Higher National Diploma certificate he purportedly
obtained from the Federal Polytechnic, Ibadan, upon which he
was cleared to contest, was forged.
Consequently, the party sought the nullification of the election
over alleged non-compliance with the Electoral Act, and asked
for the withdrawal of the Certificate of Return issued to
Fayose by the Independent National Electoral Commission,
INEC.
Furthermore, it told the tribunal that the provisions of Sections
19 and 20 of the Electoral Act made it mandatory that the
voters register must be displayed at least 30 days before the
election, adding that this was not complied with, even as
armed soldiers and policemen were used to arrest and detain
several chieftains of the party, pointing out that the alleged
action of the security men led to the disenfranchisement of its
members.
It stated that the number of people whose names were ticked
in the register used for the election, did not correspond with
number of people that actually voted.
Cited as respondents in the matter were the PDP, Fayose,
INEC, the Chief of Army Staff and the Inspector General of
Police.
The petitioner called 11 witnesses before the Tribunal, as well
as tendered the alleged forged HND certificate bearing the
name of one Oluwayose Ayodele, through the Registrar of the
Federal Polytechnic Ibandan.
However , the Tribunal headed by Justice Siraj Mohammed,
dismissed all the grounds raised in the petition, saying the
petitioner failed to prove any of the allegations.
The panel held that the issue of non-display of register as
stipulated in the Electoral Act, could not be raised after
declaration of election results, noting that was a pr-election
matter and outside its jurisdiction.
It also, held that section 182 of the constitution did not
include impeachment as a ground for disqualification of a
candidate for an election, adding that the impeachment panel
that was constituted by the then Chief Judge of Ekiti State,
Justice Jubril Aladejana, lacked the constitutional powers to
declare anyone guilty of contravening the code of conduct for
public officers.
It voided the report of the seven-man investigative panel that
found Fayose guilty in 2006, “from whom or where did Justice
Aladejana derive the fiat to constitute the panel,?” the tribunal
queried, stressing that the APC neither pleaded nor tendered
the letter through which the Speaker of the Ekiti State House
of Assembly requested the Chief Judge to constitute the
impeachment panel.
“Such letter is the very foundation upon which the validity of
the impeachment can be ascertained. The absence of such
request robs the Chief Judge of the exercise of such
constitutional power to set up a seven-panel.
“The panel was not properly constituted according to law.
Does the panel have the powers to have found the Fayose
guilty of abuse of code of conduct on allegations of
embezzlement of fund? Our answer is emphatic No!, as only a
competent court or the Code of Conduct Tribunal have such
powers.
“The investigative panel lacked the constitutional vires to
return the verdict of guilty as they did in exhibit M & M1. The
APC, gave hearsay evidence.”
It also struck out names of the Chief of Army Staff and the
Inspector General of Police, from the petition, stressing that
the alleged wrongdoings by some soldiers or police men did
not make them a necessary party in an election matter.
The tribunal held that neither the particulars of the accused
security officers, the agents of PDP allegedly used to rig the
election nor names of the polling units where the “wide spread
electoral malpractices” took place, were supplied by the
petitioner pointing out that the APC could not in one hand,
claim that the election was not conducted in compliance with
the Electoral Act, and still urge the tribunal to declare its own
candidate at the poll, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, as the winner.
It noted that out of a total of 177 electoral wards, 1,700
polling units in Ekiti State, the petitioner only produced 11
witnesses, with six of them from one local government area,
to prove wide spread election malpractice stressing that the
party ought to have called at least a witness from all or
majority of the polling units, as well as tender voters cards,
registers it claimed were improperly ticked or admitted in
favour of Fayose.
On alleged certificate forgery, it held that APC ought to have
at least called an official of the Polytechnic to testify or
produced the original owner of the said certificate. It
described the allegation as weighty, saying the fact that it
was criminal in nature, meant that the matter ought to have
been reported to security agencies for prosecution.
“The burden of proof rests squarely on the petitioner and it
has failed to discharge that burden. Accusation of forgery
being a criminal offence must be proved beyond reasonable
doubt. There is nothing before the tribunal to show that the
HND certificate was forged or was earned or awarded to any
other person on the planet earth aside the 2nd Respondent.
“On the whole, all the issues and reliefs sought have been
resolved against the petitioner and the petition is hereby
dismissed”, the panel added.
Meanwhile, Ekiti State Governor, Mr Ayo Fayose has lauded
the judiciary for its sound judgment by dismissing a suit
instituted by All Progressive Congress(APC) challenging his
victory during the June 21 governorship election
According to the statement signed in Ado Ekiti yesterday by
the Chief Press Secretary to the governor ,Mr Idowu Adelusi
commended the judiciary and for upholding justice in its
deliverance of justice.