Fayose accuses APC of plot to compromise judiciary to remove him,

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.