The Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose, has condemned the tribunal judgments nullifying the elections of Rivers and Akwa Ibom States Governors, Nyesom Wike and Emmanuel Udom respectively.
Fayose said the seeming collaboration between the All Progressives Congress-led Federal Government and a section of the judiciary is worrisome and portends grave danger to the corporate existence of Nigeria.
He said: “This is worse than corruption that the president claimed to be fighting.”
Governor Fayose said desperation to take over the South South states of Rivers and Akwa Ibom through the backdoor by President Mohammadu Buhari and his APC in preparation for 2019, using the judiciary, may cause anarchy in the country.
Speaking through his Special Assistant on Public Communications and New Media, Lere Olayinka, the governor accused the APC and President Buhari of another grand plot to rig the forthcoming Kogi and Bayelsa States governorship election, using the newly appointed Independent National Electoral Commission Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, and the Director General of Department of State Services, Alhaji Lawal Daura.
He described the suspension of the Court of Appeal judgment on the President of the Senate, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki, as “part of the grand plot to use a section of the judiciary to wrestle power from those the Buhari’s Presidency is not comfortable with”, saying the indefinite adjournment by the appeal court smacked of interference from the powers that be.
Governor Fayose said: “There were widespread electoral malpractices during the presidential election in the North, with rampant under-aged voting. Yet, Dr Goodluck Jonathan and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) did not take steps capable of threatening Nigeria’s corporate existence.
“Curiously too, in a State like Yobe where it was established that the INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Abu Zarma received N15 million bribe from the Aide-de-Camp (ADC) to the State Governor, Ibrahim Gaidam, Assistant Superintendent of Police, Zakari Deba to influence the State Governorship election, the tribunal did not nullify the election.”
Fayose called on President Buhari to, in the overall interest of Nigeria, tread cautiously in his bid to consolidate power and prepare ground for his possible re-election bid.
Governor Fayose, who reminded the President of the wild, wild west of the mid 60s and the 1983 saga between the late Chief Adekunle Ajasin and Chief Akin Omoboriowo, which was orchestrated by the then Federal Government, said: “The consequences of the orchestrated plot to prevent the people of Western Region from having the government of their choice through a fair and just election in 1964 should be a watchful example for Nigerians in general and President Buhari in particular.”
He appealed to the people of the South South not to be intimidated and discouraged, expressing hope that the appellate court will protect the wish of the people of Rivers and Akwa Ibom States.
“Governors Wike and Udom, as well as the teeming supporters of our party, PDP in Rivers and Akwa Ibom States should not be deterred and discouraged as I am sure that by the special grace of God, they will laugh last,” the governor said.
