As the plot by All Progressives Congress lawmakers of the Ekiti State House of Assembly to impeach Governor Ayodele Fayose thickens, the governor has said that his mandate, which was “freely and wholeheartedly” given to him by the electorate, will be defended by Ekiti People.
“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”, Mr. Fayose said.
Nineteen lawmakers of the opposition APC had on Friday served Mr. Fayose and his deputy, Kolapo Olusola, an impeachment notice.
The lawmakers gave them seven days to respond to allegations of gross misconduct and abuse of office.
They raised eight impeachable offences against the governor and his deputy, which include; the invasion of the House of Assembly with thugs and miscreants; instigating an unconstitutional takeover of the House by seven legislators to sit in contravention of Section 96 (2) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria; Prevention of the 19 APC legislative members from performing legislative duties with the use of security agents and armed thugs; and Sponsoring an unlawful impeachment process in the House.
They also accused Mr. Fayose of spending Ekiti State funds without requisite constitutional approval in contravention of the Constitution; running the Government of Ekiti State without legally constituted Executive Council in contravention of Section 192 (2) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria; operating an illegal 2014 Budget and Instigating illegal sitting of the House.
Speaking via a statement released by his spokesperson, Lere Olayinka, on Sunday, the governor also urged the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Mahmud Mohammed, to sustain his stand of not allowing the use of the judiciary to change the outcome of elections.
According to him, the impeachment move is a plot to distract him from concentrating on governance and the coming Saturday’s House of Assembly election.
He, therefore, called on members and supporters of the Peoples Democratic Party in the State not to be distracted from their goal of delivering all the 26 Assembly seats in the State to the party.
“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”, he said
Gov. Fayose said the Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Adewale Omirin, was assured of assuming office as Acting Governor and that informed his non-attendance of his 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 Muhammadu 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”, he said.
