The 19 All Progressives Congress lawmakers in Ekiti State House of Assembly have said there is no going back on the impeachment plot against Governor Ayodele Fayose.
The embattled Speaker, Dr. Adewale Omirin, said the governor could not run away from the process because the impeachment notice served on Fayose was a constitutional matter and contained serious issues of the law.
He said instead of staying in hiding to evade justice, “it is better to live with the reality that the rule of law has come to stay in the country.”
He said this while reacting to media reports credited to the factional Speaker, Dele Olugbemi, and the governor’s media aide, Lere Olayinka, dismissing the impeachment notice as a joke.
Omirin in a statement by his Special Adviser on Media, Wole Olujobi, said the move was to rescue democracy from the grip of executive lawlessness and impunity into which the state had been driven by the governor.
He said, “It will soon dawn on Fayose and his aides that the matter at hand goes beyond exuberant media skirmishes that are being deployed to rally support for the governor.
“Attention of the world has shifted to Ekiti State following the leaked tape detailing electoral fraud perpetrated to give Fayose victory. After that, several issues in Ekiti State are being questioned on the place of the constitution in nurturing democracy in the country, and as responsible citizens, we must act right to make democracy work.”
Omirin said all allegations raised in the impeachment notice were constitutional matters, to which the governor must be ready to produce answers instead of “belligerent attitude” in the media in addressing serious issue of constitutional significance.
Advising the governor to respond to the allegations against him, he said running away from the Government House and using his aides to cover his track would not help him in defending his assault on the nation’s constitution and other infractions against the constitution that were already established against him in courts.
“It is good that his men are talking in the media about the need to uphold the constitution in this matter even though they behave short of upholding the constitution in their conduct.
“Even though the governor trampled on the same constitution when he led thugs to attack judges in court and tore court records in the Chief Judge’s office, our duty is to follow constitutional path in this impeachment process.
“These men that are flying the governor’s banner will soon see the law in action. This impeachment process is real. We must rescue Ekiti State from lawlessness and fraud. The N1.3bn poultry project fraud case is still in court. There are still cases of unresolved murders.
“We have again seen the resumption of state-sponsored terrorism with thugs attacking and maiming Ekiti people after a break in 2006 when the governor was impeached for fraud and attacks on opponents.
“We thought his impeachment trauma in 2006 would have taught him a lesson, but the governor has proved that he cannot survive in a society where the law works. We advise him to come out of hiding and defend himself because we are prepared to give him a fair hearing. That is the reality he must face instead of downplaying serious matter of constitutional consequences,” the Speaker added.
Commenting on the impeachment notice on Sunday, Fayose in a statement by his Special Assistant on Public Communications and New Media, Lere Olayinka, described his governorship as a mandate freely and wholeheartedly given by Ekiti people.
“Ekiti people who are the owners of my mandate will defend it against political usurpers, whom they had rejected twice in the last nine months,” he said.
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