NAN
The Peoples Democratic Party governorship candidate in Ekiti State, Mr. Ayodele Fayose, on Friday raised the alarm over alleged plot by the All Progressives Congress to manipulate the judiciary to stop him from contesting the June 21 poll.
Addressing journalists in Ado-Ekiti, the legal adviser to the PDP in the state, Mr. Kolapo Kolade, said the party got information that some people playing a script constructed by APC had filed three suits in court with the intention to frustrate Fayose’s governorship ambition.
According to him, the State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Wale Fapohunda, has written a petition to the Kogi State Judiciary, seeking the transfer of a case involving one Charles Ovie on the kidnap of Attah of Ayede, Oba Joseph Orisagbemi and the late Provost of the College of Education, Ikere-Ekiti, Dr Gabriel Olowoyo, in 2009.
Kolade said another APC chieftain and former caretaker chairman of Ekiti West Local Government, Mr. Tajudeen Akingbolu, had filed a suit in an Ado-Ekiti High Court seeking N10m as damages over allegation that Fayose’s campaign train blocked the Igede-Iyin Road during a rally.
He said the third suit was filed by an Ilorin-based lawyer, Rauf Balogun.
According to him, Balogun claimed that Fayose was not competent to contest on account of his impeachment on October 16, 2006, asking the court for an injunction restraining him from contesting for the June 21 election.
Kolade, however, urged the judiciary to allow justice prevail, expressing confidence in the system.
He said, “The judges should be cautious of the banana peel that had been set for them by some politicians. They should allow the politicians do their politicking on the field and not allow the courts to be used to hamper democracy and cause confusion and anarchy in the state”.
But the Director of Media and Publicity for the Ekiti State APC, Mr. Segun Dipe, said Fayose was only afraid of his evil deeds, asking him to stop painting the party in bad light.
He said, “The act of governance is different from politics. If you don’t want to be prosecuted, don’t commit offences. If Fayose deserves to be prosecuted, he has to. Is it because he is afraid of his past?
“Are you saying that if a man commits offence that he should not be prosecuted just because he is a candidate of a political party?’’
