THE
All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ekiti State and the Ekiti State government
were, yesterday, engaged in war of words over the alleged manipulation of the
electoral process that gave Governor Ayodele Fayose victory in the June 21,
2014 governorship election.
While the Ekiti State APC appealed to the Inspector-General of Police, Solomon Arase, to prosecute Governor Fayose; a former Ekiti State Mopol Commander, Gabriel Selekere; Assistant Inspector General of Police, Bala Nasarawa, who oversaw the conduct of the election.
While the Ekiti State APC appealed to the Inspector-General of Police, Solomon Arase, to prosecute Governor Fayose; a former Ekiti State Mopol Commander, Gabriel Selekere; Assistant Inspector General of Police, Bala Nasarawa, who oversaw the conduct of the election.
Ekiti State government, on its part, said the
Supreme Court has ended the party’s pipedream on Fayose’s victory.
In
a statement by its state chairman, Chief Olajide Awe, the party said its
petition followed a leak of a secret audio recording by Captain Sagir Koli, of
the 32nd Artillery Brigade in Ekiti State two days to the election. Awe, in a
petition entitled: “Criminal Complaint Conspiracy, Bribery, Threats and Use of
Military to Perpetuate Electoral Fraud Against the People of Ekiti State; and
investigation of the role of the Nigerian Police Force in the Ekiti State
Gubernatorial Elections June 21, 2014,” said the party brought the IGP’s
attention to the content of the audio tape detailing criminal acts planned by
those mentioned or whose voices were captured in the tape.
The
party alleged that on February 8, 2015, the audio recording capturing the
voices of Fayose, Commander of 32 Artillery Brigade, Brig. Gen. Aliyu Momoh;
Senator Iyiola Omisore, Police Affairs Minister, Jelili Adesiyan; Minister of
State for Defence, Musiliu Obanikoro and others, at a meeting where they
conspired and strategized to rig the June 21 governorship election was released
to the public.
Awe,
however, said: “the import of this audio recording is the revelations of
criminal acts, which were planned and perpetrated by these men. Besides, he
alleged that the above listed persons conspired to tamper with the
constitutionally laid-down procedure for the conduct of election.
The Ekiti APC also called on Arase to
investigate the roles of the police in the alleged election fraud
unprofessional conduct bordering on alleged dishonesty and violations of the
code of ethics of the Nigerian Police Force. Stop living in illusion— Fayose.
In
his reaction, Special Assistant to the Ekiti State Governor on Public
Communications and New Media, Lere Olayinka said yesterday’s Supreme Court
judgment on the leadership dispute within the Anambra State chapter of the
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), in which the court said it lacked jurisdiction
to review its own judgment should be enough for members of the APC in Ekiti
State to stop living in the illusion that the Supreme Court judgment on the
June 21, 2014 governorship election can be reviewed. He said the judgment ended
the APC’s pipedream of returning to power through an orchestrated review of the
Supreme Court judgment that validated Governor Ayodele Fayose’s election.