Assistant Editor, SAM NWAOKO reports the ongoing crisis in the polity in Ekiti State and the contentions of the various stakeholders.Ekiti State has been in the news of late and not a few of the indigenes of the state and numerous other stakeholders are worried about what the immediate future has in store for them politically.The war this time, according to some of the stakeholders, 'is about numerous things but chief among them is a matter instituted against the eligibility of Mr Ayodel Fayose to contest the June 21, 2014 governorship election by a member of a group in the state, the Ekiti-11, more popularly known as the e-11 and the Citizens Popular Party (CPP).The matter had gone to the court before the election, but had been there up till now, following numerous issues surrounding it. For instance, before the election, the Fayose camp had raised the alarm that some judges were interested in the case by allegedly either being members of the e-11, or were supposedly closely related to its members.The Ayo Fayose Campaign Organisation had then claimed that the likelihood of bias was glaring and objected to some of the issues the matter had come with. It also alleged that the matter had taken longer than normal to be assigned to a judge because 'many of the judges in the state were wary of the matter and had declined to hear it.'But, the matter was heard by Justice Olusegun Ogunyemi. The judge, among other things, assumed jurisdiction in the matter after dismissing Fayose's preliminary objection. This was at a ruling on the preliminary objection, delivered on September 22.The matter was meant to continue a few hours later on that same day for hearing, according to submissions by some interested parties. But at that point, the case took another route other than that known to the law courts. There was an invasion of the court premises.On the people, who invaded the courts, there were divergent opinions, each according to its political leaning. The All Progressives Congress (APC) apologists described the people that made the incursion as 'hoodlums,' while the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) apologists on their part described them as Concerned Ekiti Voters.While there was no need for the APC to explain the hoodlums theory the PDP claimed that Concerned Ekiti Voters, who had been attending the court proceeding, and who saw the writing on the wall that there was something abnormal in the case reacted in anger.'In the thinking of the Ekiti APC as expressed by Mr Segun Dipe, the party's Director of Publicity and Media, the court invasion was indefensible and alleged that 'rather than baring facts, our governor-elect is baring fangs.' Dipe also claimed that 'one would have thought that Fayose's many legal advisers would have drawn his attention to Section 182 (1) of the constitution of the Federal republic of Nigeria 1999 or Section 145 (1) of the Electoral Act 2006 and he should face his defence on those,' instead of allegedly 'calling out his thugs against the dictates of the statutes.'However, while the APC was seen by many PDP stakeholders as fretting over a matter it was not a party to, on the face value, the governor-elect, who is of also the PDP that the APC was only trying to get what it could not get through the ballot, allegedly 'from a fraudulent court judgment.'Fayose pointedly accused the APC of plotting to scuttle his swearing-in on October 16 through a judgment its proxy, the e-11 was pursuing in the court. He said the 'Ekiti people will resist any attempt to stall my inauguration because their target is to install the Speaker of the House of Assembly, who is an APC member, claiming that Fayose is not qualified to contest.'He said he and his party would 'not allow the APC to bring back the Salamigate in the state' and recalled what he described as the alleged 'jankara judgment or backdoor judgment that that truncated Segun Oni's tenure in the state.'He said although he was not in the country when the court was attacked, he described the incident as regrettable.But their brickbats on the court invasion were still dripping, when the election petition tribunal convened to conclude its pre-hearing proceeding on September 25.The judiciary complex, where the tribunal is sitting, was filled with hundreds of people believed to be supporters of Fayose, and they were believed to have come to witness the sitting. 'Many of them do not even know the difference between the tribunal sitting and the regular court incident of Monday.So, they had come to see for themselves and are largely uninformed,' a source claimed. The tribunal sitting had its own share of the troubles of the crown. Some of them even allegedly stoned Mr Rotimi Akeredolu, a counsel for the APC in the tribunal, before the police dispersed them with teargas.But, while the tribunal sitting was ongoing, news went to town that Fayose had allegedly beaten up a judge and tore his clothes. Another version of the rumour held that he instructed his thugs to beat up the judge as he made for the tribunal, where he witnessed the proceeding.The Thursday confusion reigned for hours until the news that a staunch supporter of Fayose's, Chief Omolafe Aderiye, who was also a former chairman of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) in n the state, had been shot dead. That gave wing to the tension in the state that had earlier been generated by the court matter and the tribunal hearing.That Thursday night was seen by many as 'one hell of a night' as the death of Chief Aderiye drew the ire of his supporters and sympathizers, who promptly took to the streets. The following day, that is, September 26, Ado Ekiti was shut down as the protesters made bonfires, attacked properties of known and unknown enemies and burnt property.The APC secretariats in the state as well as the Ado Ekiti secretariat of the party were torched. The campaign office headquarters of Governor Kayode Fayemi was also torched, while the erstwhile chairman of the rival Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria (RTEAN), Chief Rotimi Olanbiwoninu Mentilo also suffered huge losses, among many others.Fayemi reacted to the mayhem by suspending his 'thank you tour,' imposing a dusk to dawn curfew and ensuring the deployment of security to the streets.He announced these in his broadcast to the people of the state in the wake of the violence. In the broadcast, Governor Fayemi did not lose sight of the court case that literally ignited the crisis and said he would seek the advice of the state chief judge on the possibility of continuing the hearing outside state. But, the court-case aspect of his broadcast was seen by the PDP as 'self-serving' and the people await what would come from there.In the meanwhile, normalcy has returned to the state, as there was no report of incident on Saturday. But, rumours already had it that RTEAN members had vowed to avenge the destruction of their leader's property. The rumour mill also had it that they had vowed to carry out their reprisals on Monday (today). What this portends remains within the realms of conjecture, just as the entire state holds its breadth.
Click here to read full news..
