High Tension in ekiti as Supreme Court decides Fayose’s fate today

High tension in Ekiti State as the Supreme Court in Abuja prepared to
deliver judgment on Tuesday (today) in the appeal filed by the All
Progressives Congress against the victory of Governor Ayodele Fayose
in the June 21, 2014 governorship election.
Fayose, in a state-wide broadcast on Monday, asked residents to
maintain the peace and go about their lawful duties.
The governor, who thanked the people for voting overwhelmingly for all
the Peoples Democratic Party's candidates in the Saturday House of
Assembly elections, said the victory had confirmed that he had a
genuine mandate of the people.
He said that he was sure that he would be vindicated at the end of the
day and triumph over whatever plot being hatched to truncate his
tenure.
A commercial driver, Ade Bamidele, expressed confidence that the
governor would win the case.
A trader, Esther Orji, said the Ekiti people required peace, saying
the judgment would remove the tension associated with the election.
The Ekiti Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal had on December 19,
2014 upheld Fayose's victory and dismissed the APC petition for lack
of merit.
Dissatisfied, the APC had gone to the appellate court on the grounds
that Fayose was not qualified to stand for the election as a candidate
because of his impeachment on October 16, 2006 during his first tenure
as governor.
The APC also alleged that the governor forged his academic
certificates and violated the Code of Conduct rules.
The five- member panel, chaired by Justice Abdul Aboki, in its
judgment on February 16 had upheld the judgment of the Tribunal, which
affirmed Fayose as the winner of the June 21, 2014 poll.
Though the Justice Abdul Aboki-led five-man panel dismissed the appeal
filed by the APC, it found merit in the appellant's complaints that
the military was used to harass and intimidate its supporters and
leaders during the polls.
Dissatisfied still, the APC had gone to the Supreme Court.
The Independent National Electoral Commission had declared that Fayose
polled 203,090 votes to defeat the then incumbent governor, Dr. Kayode
Fayemi, of the All Progressives Congress, who polled 120,433 votes in
the election.
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