Ekiti State Governor, Mr Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State has alerted the
Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Walter Onnoghen, of fresh
plots by the All Progressives Congress (APC) to compromise a section
of the Judiciary and muzzle democracy in their desperation to oust him
from office, saying; “The essence of all of these is to silence him as
the voice of opposition in the country because he has bluntly rejected
all overtures to him to defect into the ruling APC or stop talking.”
The governor, who warned against any plot to destabilise Ekiti State,
wondered how long the Ekiti APC and its collaborators will pursue
their clandestine agenda of reversing an election they lost over 30
months ago and validated by the tribunal, appeal court and the Supreme
Court.”
In a letter he addressed to Justice Onnoghen, Fayose alleged that
“certain APC chieftains were again making subterranean moves to
manipulate and compromise a section of the Judiciary, particularly
some judges, to get through the back door what they failed severally
to achieve through the ballot box as well as in open court, even in
matters already decided by the Supreme Court.”
He said: “At a recent meeting held in Ado-Ekiti, the State capital, at
which several stalwarts and chieftains of the All Progressives
Congress were in attendance, two former governors of the State and
members of the APC, namely Engr. Segun Oni and Dr. Kayode Fayemi, now
a Federal Minister, boasted that there is no going back on the latest
plans to subvert the will of the people of Ekiti freely given; wrest
the governance of Ekiti from me at all costs before the expiration of
my tenure in October 2018 through orchestrated but dubious legal
process; and thereby render nugatory the sacred mandate of the people
given unto me openly and unequivocally when I won in all the 16 local
governments of the state while the then incumbent Governor, Kayode
Fayemi recorded zero.”
Fingering the hands of the Presidency in the latest plot, with Oni and
Fayemi as their local arrow heads, Governor Fayose alleged that a
concocted fresh suit is being rehashed and to be filed against him on
the same old allegation that have been trashed all the way from the
Tribunal to the Supreme Court.
He alleged that; “this time, the plotters of this judicial
coup-de-tat plan to procure the services of a compromised or malleable
judge to get self-serving ‘jankara’ and kangaroo judgment with the
intention of having the Supreme Court reverse itself on the June 2014
Ekiti election.
“Segun Oni and Kayode Fayemi boastfully claimed that they have
enlisted the assurances of Justice Okon Abang and one or two other
judges in the concocted fresh suit, hinged on the report of a useless,
senseless, and orchestrated Military report not known to the Electoral
law.”
Urging the CJN to take “notice of judicial pronouncements by courts of
concurrent jurisdiction as well as the scathing remarks of appellate
courts on how the said Justice Okon Abang has been used in the past by
anti-democratic forces to endanger democracy and engage in deleterious
miscarriage of justice”, Fayose prayed that the Judiciary would not
succumb to devious plots to undermine its independence and integrity
and rubbish its good name and hard-earned reputation any more.
“My Lord, you have a duty to ensure that no Judge under your watch is
enlisted into this diabolical act by any rampaging anti-democratic
elements.
“The embarrassing incidents currently playing out on our National
Judicial horizon, with several judicial officers, including serving
Justices of the Supreme Court, enmeshed in simulated and orchestrated
corruption scandals and indictments by agencies of the Federal
Government because they had refused, at one time or the other, to
serve the base interests of the ruling APC government in matters
pending before their Lordships, have kept us wondering whether the
Judiciary will succumb to these unwarranted harassments and
intimidation meant to coerce and cower it into submission and make
this very important and indispensable Third Estate of the Realm
subservient to the arbitrary wishes, whims, and caprices of the
Executive and political desperados,” he said.
Describing himself as “a leading opposition figure in Nigeria today
that has been very critical of the anti-people policies of the Federal
Government and its anti-democratic actions that endanger our renascent
democracy”, Fayose added that “democracy without virile opposition
will eventually turn into a dictatorship, which is currently being
experienced.”
Fayose said he would continue to believe in the Judiciary going by the
open declaration of the CJN to defend the Independence of the
Judiciary; maintain its integrity and deliver a virile and disciplined
Judiciary that is impartial, independent, non-partisan, and not
subservient to the selfish interests of any individual, group or
cabal, however powerful or influential they may be.
The governor therefore expressed the confidence that Justice Onnoghen
in particular and the Judiciary in general would not only refuse to
fall for the APC’s cheap and pedestrian blackmail but would also
resolutely and confidently defend the hallowed grounds of the
Judiciary and secure them from desecration by anti-democratic forces
running riot all over the country.