Fayose Begs Buhari to Intervene in Ekiti Crisis

The crisis in Ekiti State has taken a different dimension and it needs serious intervention.

Tension rose again in Ado Ekiti, Ekiti State, on Monday as supporters of the state Governor, Ayodele Fayose, and some Peoples Democratic Party members laid siege to the state House of Assembly in Ado Ekiti . Their action was to prevent the 19 All Progressives Congress lawmakers from gaining entry to the assembly to actualise their move to impeach Fayose.

While the siege lasted, the national leadership of the PDP and Fayose urged President Muhammadu Buhari to intervene in the matter. News had filtered into the state on Sunday night that the lawmakers had assembled in a hotel in a neighbouring state preparatory to sneaking into Ado Ekiti to remove Fayose and his deputy,   Kolapo Olusola.

It was gathered that the news made the police to quickly cordon off   the major   roads leading to the Assembly complex with their patrol vans and   an Armoured Personnel Carrier .

The PDP members and commercial motorcyclists blocked the secretariat and NTA roads which also lead to the complex.

As the tension heightened, Fayose made a statewide broadcast during which he again called on the people to defend the mandate given to him by them.

After the broadcast, commercial life in the city went dead as traders hurriedly locked their shops while civil servants closed their offices and left for their homes.

Fayose had before the broadcast told journalists that all the entitlements of the APC lawmakers had been paid, contrary to   Speaker Adewale Omirin’s denial. The governor flaunted copies of Skye Bank cheques dated May 26, 2015 and   issued to the lawmakers to corroborate his claim.

One of the cheques, which bore the name Boluwade Kehinde was received on behalf of the lawmaker and had a sum of N2, 149, 052 .37 on it.

Fayose warned that it would amount to contempt of court for Omirin and his colleagues to continue with the impeachment proceedings against him.

The governor said,;

“They have been dropping the name of President Buhari as giving them the backing to impeach me. How can an Assembly, whose tenure will wind up on Thursday be planning this. I wonder why the issue of the past should be allowed to come to play out now. As of the day the court gave the order, I mean April 23, Omirin was not the speaker. It will be wrong for the court order not to be respected. This is illegality and I want to raise this for the public to know.

“Omirin had gone to court to challenge his impeachment but he later withdrew his case, which means he accepted he had been impeached. A cost of N100, 000 was awarded against him.

“So, he is not the Speaker. I am calling on well-meaning Nigerians, the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Mahmoud Mohammed, and President   Buhari to intervene in this matter.

“How can somebody be living in another state and be planning to invade his own state; this is something else and I view this as a major crime anyone can commit against his people.”

On the payment of the salaries and other benefits to the APC lawmakers, Fayose said, “They came to collect the cheques in Ado Ekiti in company with the Commissioner for Finance,   Toyin Ojo.

“The issue would have been discussed publicly during a peace parley but they insisted that it should not be discussed openly because they didn’t want the leaders of their party to know,” he added.

Fayose urged the Ekiti people to   keep their eyes on the lawmakers and prevent them from carrying out their plot to remove him.

In Abuja, the PDP accused the   outgoing APC lawmakers of trying to cause mayhem as a means of securing political control of the state.

The party   warned in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary,   Olisa Metuh,   that its members would be fully mobilised to resist the scheme.

It alleged that the move to create confusion in the state by the lawmakers   was a   final attempt in their failed mission to unseat   Fayose.

The PDP warned the lawmakers to watch their steps and not to take its civility for granted as it would not hesitate to defend the governor with all the force availed by the law.