Omirin: Fayose Risks Impeachment

Ekiti State Governor, Mr Peter Ayodele Fayose, risks im­peachment if he fails to respond to the notice sent to him at the weekend, according to factional Speaker of the state House of As­sembly, Dr. Adewale Omirin.

However, Fayose has continued to pooh-pooh the impeachment notice, adding that the people of the state who gave him mandate as Governor, and rejected the APC at March 28 presidential election, would keep him in office.

Omirin, in a statement on Sun­day, said that Fayose could not run away from facing impeachment process, noting that the impeach­ment notice was a constitutional matter and not about theatrics.

Reacting to media reports cred­ited to the Speaker of the faction loyal to Fayose of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Dele Olugbemi; and another state­ment credited to the governor’s media aide, Lere Olayinka, dis­missing the impeachment notice as a joke, Omirin said the two men were still acting in igno­rance of the supremacy of the Constitution.

In a statement by his Special Adviser on Media, Wole Olujobi, Omirin said that the Ekiti issue was a matter of rescuing democ­racy from executive lawlessness and impunity into which the state had been driven by the governor.

He said: “It will soon dawn on Fayose and his aides that the mat­ter at hand goes beyond exuber­ant media skirmishes that are be­ing deployed to rally support for the governor.

“Attention of the world has shifted to Ekiti State following the leaked tape detailing electoral fraud perpetrated to give Fayose victory. After that, several issues in Ekiti State are being ques­tioned on the place of the consti­tution in nurturing democracy in the country, and as responsible citizens, we must act right to make democracy work.”

Omirin said all allegations raised in the impeachment no­tice are constitutional matters, to which the governor must be ready to produce answers instead of belligerent attitude in the me­dia in addressing serious issue of constitutional significance.

Advising the governor to re­spond to the allegations against him, he said running away from the Government House and using his aides to cover his track would not help him in defending his as­sault on the nation’s constitution and other infractions against the constitution that were already es­tablished against him in courts.

“It is good that his men are talk­ing in the media about the need to uphold the constitution in this matter even though they behave short of upholding the constitu­tion in their conduct

“Even though the governor trampled on the same constitu­tion when he led thugs to attack judges in court and tore court records in the Chief Judge’s of­fice, our duty is to follow constitu­tional path in this impeachment process.

“These men that are flying the governor’s banner will soon see the law in action. This impeach­ment process is real. We must rescue Ekiti State from lawless­ness and fraud. The N1.3 billion poultry project fraud case is still in court. There are still cases of unresolved murders.

“We have again seen the re­sumption of state-sponsored terrorism with thugs attacking and maiming Ekiti people after a break in 2006 when the governor was impeached for fraud and at­tacks on opponents,” the Speaker said.

He added: “We thought his im­peachment trauma in 2006 would have taught him a lesson, but the governor has proved that he can­not survive in a society where the law works. We advise him to come out of hiding and defend himself because we are prepared to give him a fair hearing. That is the reality he must face instead of downplaying serious matter of constitutional consequences.”

However, Fayose described his governorship as a mandate freely and wholeheartedly given by Ekiti people, saying; “Ekiti people who are the owners of my mandate will defend it against political usurpers, whom they had rejected twice in the last nine months.”

According to Olayinka, the governor also urged the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Mahmud Mohammed, to sustain his stand of not allowing the use of the judiciary to change the out­come of elections.

Fayose, who described the “noise” of impeachment and Supreme Court judgment be­ing made by the APC as a plot to distract him from concentrating on governance and the coming Saturday’s House of Assembly election, called on members and supporters of the Peoples Demo­cratic Party (PDP) in the State not to be distracted from their goal of delivering all the 26 Assembly seats in the State to the party.

He said: “Sovereignty belongs to the people and the people of Ekiti State on June 21, 2014, sur­rendered their sovereignty to me to be their governor for four years.

“Instead of respecting the wish of Ekiti people, which they again affirmed on March 28 and will further affirm on April 11, the APC people that were rejected in two free and fair elections have been trying all tricks to return to power through the back door.

“They filed several cases in their bid to stop my inauguration as governor and even committed murder in the process.”

Speaking further, Governor Fayose said; “The Speaker of the State House of Assembly then, Dr Adewale Omirin was assured of assuming office as Acting Gov­ernor and that informed his non-attendance of my inauguration, as he was still hoping that even on October 16, 2014, a court order would be gotten to stop my inau­guration.

“Their evil plots against the mandate of Ekiti people failed then, but up to now, they are not relenting.

“Today, even though Omirin has been duly impeached, he still believes he can be Acting Gover­nor while Dr Kayode Fayemi that was roundly rejected by Ekiti people is also boasting that he will return to power through the instrumentality of the court.

“However, let me warn the APC as a party to respect the wish of Ekiti people as the PDP and President Goodluck Jonathan re­spected the wish of Nigerians on the election of Major General Mo­hammadu Buhari (rtd).

“Any attempt to undermine the sovereignty of Ekiti people, us­ing whatever instrument will be resisted by the people themselves because power belongs to the people and they have handed it to whom they desire to exercise till October 16, 2018.

“The APC gladiators in Ekiti should therefore emulate Presi­dent Jonathan and the PDP by waiting till 2018 to try their luck again.”