APC lawmakers to CJ: Erect panel to investigate Fayose..

All Progressives Congress members of the Ekiti State House of
Assembly have written to the state Chief Judge, Justice Ayodeji
Daramola, asking him to set up a panel to investigate the allegations
contained in their impeachment notice to Governor Ayodele Fayose.
The seven-member panel which should be constituted within seven days
of the receipt of the letter is to investigate allegations of
impunity, violence, stalking and other constitutional breaches the
lawmakers levelled against Fayose and his deputy, Kolapo Olusola.
The legislators reached the resolution at a special sitting presided
over by their Speaker, Adewale Omirin, at the Mary Hills Boys'
High School, Ado Ekiti.
According to a statement by Omirin's media aide, Wole Olujobi, the
lawmakers, in a unanimous vote, supported the motion directing the
chief judge to set up the panel.
The Majority Leader, Churchill Adedipe, who explained on Thursday that
the sitting ought to have taken place in the hallowed chamber on April
7, 2015, said they were waylaid by political thugs who mounted
roadblocks and threatened their lives.
Due to the violence, he said, they jettisoned the plan to go to the assembly.
He said, "Relying on Section 188 of the Constitution of the Federal
Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended), Adedipe moved the motion
empowering the CJ to set up the panel.
"His motion was seconded by the Deputy Speaker, Adetunji Orisalade,
representing Ido/Osi Constituency II.
"The Assembly adjourned to the next legislative day."
The lawmakers relied on Section 101 of the 1999 Constitution as
amended which empowers the Assembly to regulate its sittings,
including sitting in a public building within the state capital if the
lives of members are not safe.
Journalists, who visited the school, were told by students that they
saw no strange faces in their school on Thursday.
However, Fayose has argued that no sitting of the assembly took
place on Thursday as claimed by the APC lawmakers.
The governor, in a statement by his Special Assistant on Public
Communications and New Media, Lere Olayinka, said, "The State House of
Assembly is on recess. No sitting took place in the House of
Assembly.
"Kindly disregard information being circulated by the APC that their
lawmakers are sitting somewhere in Ado Ekiti.
"Of course, members of the House of Assembly can gather anywhere in
the world to have social or political meetings.
"Parliamentary business is done in the hallowed chamber of the House
of Assembly.
"Besides, Omirin, who claimed to be the speaker of the assembly
was impeached on November 20, 2014 and he is in court, challenging his
impeachment."
Fayose and Olusola had during the week raced to a Federal High Court
in Abuja to stop the APC legislators from going ahead with the
impeachment process.
But they met a brick wall as the judge, Justice Ahmed Mohammed, turned
down their request and granted only the prayers contained in their ex
parte application relating to the service of the court processes on
the defendants.
Fayose and Olusola, in the ex parte application, asked for an interim
order stopping the impeachment notice served on them and the moves
to remove them from office.
Rather than granting the prayers for interim injunction, Justice
Mohammed ordered the defendants in the suit, including Omirin, and
the CJ, to appear in his court on April 16.
The APC has however reacted to the rejection of Fayose's request to
stop impeachment proceedings against him, saying that it was
laughable that the governor who once desecrated the judiciary could
approach the same institution to protect him from his "illegal acts."
It also expressed surprise that the governor could approach the FHC in
Abuja for protection over a matter that happened in Ekiti after
lampooning the party. It recalled that Fayose once ridiculed it for
approaching the same court in Jos, Plateau State, while seeking
protection from his harassment and attacks.
The APC added in a statement by its Publicity Secretary, Taiwo
Olatubosun, that the governor was confused on how to handle his cases
in court, having desecrated the state judiciary and instigated its
workers to refuse to resume duties.
It said, "Fayose didn't allow Ekiti courts to function and he declared
the state Chairman of the APC, Olajide Awe, wanted over a phantom
murder charge. Awe obtained an injunction against his arrest from a
FHC in Jos, which the governor referred to as a ''black market
injunction.''
"He has now run to Abuja to get an injunction to restrain the 19
lawmakers from impeaching him but the court in its wisdom has turned
this request down."
Also, the APC Elders Forum, declared that there was no escape route
for Fayose beacuse he had "serially breached the constitution,
desecrated the esteemed office he occupies and should be ready to face
the consequences of his actions."
The Publicity Secretary of Ekiti APC Elders Forum, Bayo Orire,
therefore warned the military and the police against being used to
hinder the lawmakers from carrying out their constitutional functions.
The forum also congratulated Buhari on his victory in the March 28
presidential poll.
Also on Thusday, the Ekiti Justice Forum urged Fayose to respond
to the impeachment notice served on him by the lawmakers with maturity
and all sense of responsibility.
The forum which called on the Independent National Electoral
Commission to postpone the House of Assembly election, accused the
governor of worsening the political crisis in the state.
In a statement by its Chairman, Sesan Fatoba; Secretary, Dare
Owotomobi; and Director of Publicity, Ojo Andrews, the group advised
the governor to know that no amount of impunity could solve any
constitutional crisis.
It said, "The political tension created in the last few days by the
move of the 19 Ekiti State House of Assembly members to commence
impeachment process against Governor Fayose has been made worse by the
negative response of the governor.
"The majority of the Ekiti State House of Assembly members being
hunted by Governor Fayose are candidates in the April 11, 2015
election.''
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