Impeachment: Fayose’s Alarm Stalls School Resumption in Ekiti

Following the panic that engulfed Ekiti State over alarm raised by Governor Ayodele Fayose that the 19 All Progres­sives Congress (APC) lawmak­ers planned to invade the state House of Assembly on Monday, public and private schools in the state failed to reopen on Monday to commence the third term aca­demic session.

Fayose, had in a state-wide broadcast on Sunday alleged that the Hon. Adewale Omirin-led law­makers were planning to storm the Assembly on Monday and be­gin his impeachment and called on the people to mobilize and de­fend the mandate freely given to him.

When newsmen visited the State Secretariat in Ado-Ekiti, the state capital, which is the converg­ing point for civil servants, few workers reported to their duty posts to offer skeletal services for the political functionaries over fear of attack.

The roads leading to the As­sembly was barricaded by secu­rity agencies while the Assembly complex was under lock and key. Stern-looking heavily armed po­licemen also blocked all the ma­jor roads linking to the complex and only few vehicles that were allowed passage were thoroughly checked before they were allowed to go.

Members of the Peoples Demo­cratic Party (PDP) who were mo­bilized by Caretaker Chairmen in all the 16 Local Government Areas of the state also laid siege to the Assembly.

The party members were seen in clusters at every strategic point around the complex and kept vigil to prevent the lawmakers from be­ing brought in to perfect the im­peachment plot against Fayose.

In some of the schools visited in Ado Ekiti, particularly the public schools, few teachers and pupils were on ground, which signalled that the tension must have created fears in the minds of the people.

Public and private schools in the state were supposed to resume for third term on Monday, which the tension elicited by the im­peachment saga, had stalled.

The protesters however did not mount barricades at all the entry points into Ado Ekiti from other neighbouring states, as they had been doing since the protests commenced.against the plot to remove Fayose

Meanwhile, the Ekiti State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has praised driv­ers and motorcycle riders asso­ciations in the state for refusing to obey Gov. Fayose’s order to fo­ment trouble over alleged plan by the 19 APC lawmakers to storm the Assembly with thugs to im­peach him.

In a statement on Monday, the party’s publicity secretary, Tai­wo Olatubosun, commended the transport workers for their cour­age and wisdom to stay away from the Assembly.

“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 while he distributes guns to the children of others to foment trou­ble.

“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 (away) in the booth of his car to safety while his supporters were tear-gassed with several of them wounded,” Olatubosun said.

In a related development, all the 25 newly elected PDP House of Assembly lawmakers in Ekiti State on Monday issued a state­ment, where they alleged that the personal ambition of both em­battled Speaker, Adewale Omirin, and a federal lawmaker, Senator Babafemi Ojudu, was responsible for the aggravation of the ongo­ing political crisis in the state.