Moves to Remove Fayose before May 29 Escalates

Firstclass newsline gathered that the governor who has had a running
battle with 19 All Progressives Congress (APC) lawmakers in Ekiti
State House of Assembly since he assumed office on October 16, 2014,
has been in court to stop moves by them to oust him.
While a federal high court sitting in Abuja had twice in April
declined to grant an application seeking to stop the lawmakers from
impeaching the governor, another high court in Lagos on May 6, struck
out a suit filed by the lawmakers on the impeachment following their
decision to withdraw the suit.
While the suit looked like a relief to Fayose, it might be a booby
trap for him as persons who understood the game currently playing up
at the background, said it was actually meant to clear the coast for
his impeachment as the continuous existence of the case in court could
stall the impeachment plot. The 19 lawmakers had reportedly signed an
impeachment notice against Fayose and consequently asked the Chief
Judge of Ekiti State to constitute a panel of inquiry to investigate
the allegations of misconduct against him.
The chief judge has not set up the panel probably because the matter
has been sub-judice and moreso that the plotters did not pass the
resolution in an authorised place.
However, a reliable source told firstclass newsline that Speaker of
the House, Dr. Adewale Omirin, who along with his 18 colleagues had
been denied access to the House of Assembly by security forces with
the intention to foil the impeachment plot was said to have held a
meeting with a senator from Ekiti State in the National Assembly
recently over the plot to oust Fayose.
According to the source, a former minister from Ekiti State who is
close to a former president sent the senator to the former president
to discuss the impeachment move with him. He disclosed further that
after meeting with the former president, the latter asked him to send
the 19 APC lawmakers to him.
At the scheduled meeting with the lawmakers by the former president, a
top security agent was invited with the intention to co-opt him into
the plan with the overall intention to seek his assistance to dislodge
the security agents who barricade the road leading to the House of
Assembly so that the lawmakers can gain access to the assembly
chamber.
The top security agent was said to have told the meeting that he was
not responsible for the deployment of security forces to the
surroundings of Ekiti State House of Assembly.
The source also said the security big-wig was then asked how he would
dislodge the security agents and simultaneously pave way for the
return of the aggrieved lawmakers.
He was said to have pledged commitment to the cause but only requested
that the impeachment move be reserved towards the end of the tenure of
current political office holders.
The top security source was said to have said it would be easier to
get it done when it would be few days to May 29 as it was said to have
been concluded that a panel of enquiry that would be constituted could
finish its assignment within two days.
Once the panel concludes its work and recommends Fayose's impeachment,
firstclass newsline was told, he would be gone in a matter of hours
as the lawmakers who would be adequately protected, would immediately
pronounce him impeached.
It was also learnt that another top security agent from another
security outfit who could make the job easier was said to have also
been contacted and co-opted into the arrangement after willingly
pledging his loyalty to the cause.
Hear the source: "A former minister from Ekiti State sent a senator to
a former president. When he met him, the former president asked the 19
lawmakers to see him and they went. A top security personnel was
invited to the meeting and they asked him what his men were doing at
the Ekiti State House of Assembly.
"He told them he just saw it that way that he didn't deploy them. They
also contacted another top security personnel and both of them have
keyed into the project. The first personnel told them to reserve the
move till the last week of this tenure since it was realised that
within two days after constituting the investigative panel, they would
finish the work and recommend him for impeachment. I can tell you that
he will be removed before May 29," the source said.
The forces which seek to get rid of Fayose consider him a liability to
the state that will be too risky to endure for four years. His ordeal
began shortly after his election on June 21, 2014, when he was dragged
to court over alleged ineligibility to stand for the election having
been impeached in October 2006 during his first coming.
Fearing that he might be disqualified from taking oath of office, his
supporters stormed the court and allegedly beat up the judge,
resulting in the closure of Ekiti courts for two weeks.
His image crisis worsened when he assumed office and sponsored the
defection of seven APC lawmakers who subsequently impeached the
speaker, Omirin, who is leading a group of 19 including himself.
Since then, the 19 lawmakers have had to take cover outside Ekiti
State over fears of insecurity. The situation grew worse when the
lawmakers who were candidates for April 28, 2015 House of Assembly
elections could not campaign for their re-elections. This gave the
ruling Peoples' Democratic Party (PDP) the opportunity to clear 25 of
26 seats in the House of Assembly.
Firstclassnewsline.net