Ekiti group warn politicians to respect the will of the people

(Nigeria) As the nation waits with bated breath on whether or not the governor- elect of Ekiti state, Mr Ayodele Fayose will be sworn –in into office on Thursday, an Ekiti socio-cultural group, Ekiti Development Union (EDU)has called on the parties in conflict in Ekiti State to allow peace and the will of the people to prevail over group sentiments and personal aggrandizement.
In a statement by its Chairman, Pastor Yemi Olayinka, the secretary, Mr Foluso Oguntoyinbo, and Publicity Secretary, Kunle Ogunsakin, the group said that Ekiti people have been condemned unjustly over the choice they made in the June 21, 2014 gubernatorial elections. “Never in the history of Nigeria has a people been so much derided and vilified for their choice the way Ekiti people were derided”, the group noted.
The group particularly warned the E-11, another Ekiti group that went to court in their bid to disqualify Mr Ayodele Fayose from occupying the seat of governor of the state; to desist from any action that is capable of dividing the Ekiti people.  “From an association formed on April 26, 2003 “to promote an Ekiti agenda under a God fearing Ekiti Stakeholders Forum, a forum that precludes allegiance to any political party but committed to the progress and empowerment of Ekiti indigenes locally and in diaspora”, E-11 has turned full circle, becoming political and blackmailing successive governments in the state”.
EDU noted that past governor Segun Oni, and the outgoing Dr Fayemi are members of the group. It was the group that fielded both as candidates of PDP and AD. “October 15, 2006 will always be a day to be remembered in the history of Ekiti State. It was the day the then governor, Ayodele Fayose was in a kangaroo manner, impeached from office, and the then Speaker of the state House of Assembly, the late Chief Friday Aderemi became governor in acting capacity, though he did not last in office for a day;
The night Aderemi took over the reins of power. Right inside the governor’s private office was Mr Babafemi Ojudu (now a senator) who was then the chairman of the E-11. Ojudu was accompanied by Kayode Fayemi (the incumbent governor) then an aspirant of Alliance for Democracy (AD), Segun Oni (former governor), also an aspirant of PDP, and Mr Kayode Afolabi. The group E-11 under the leadership of Ojudu had supervised the impeachment of Fayose. The group received funding from prominent Ekiti indigenes from home and abroad who had been made to believe that Fayose is a collective enemy that must go at all cost. The “Fayose must go” fund ran into hundreds of millions of naira that partly went into the hands of the legislators who were camped at Royal Birds hotel, Akure, Ondo State, and the Women Development Centre, Agege, Lagos at various times. The major part of the funds ended in the private pockets of the leadership of E-11;
Members of E-11 received very handsome rewards for the impeachment of Fayose. The impeachment led to a time of political instability in the state which eventually led to the declaration of a state of emergency. An outsider Gen Olurin was brought in as administrator. For several months, Ekiti remained When Segun Oni came into office, the running of the state-owned Fountain Hotels, built by Fayose was ceded to them.  This was aside huge contracts awarded to members of the group. With all Segun Oni ceded to them which included several political appointments and business opportunities, the group still came up against Oni. This bias was responsible for the splitting of the group along political lines;
The party continued under Kayode Fayemi as members though now divided by politics still reap handsomely from their labour of 2006. The leadership used the emergence of Fayemi to fulfill his political ambition. Several contracts and businesses and political offices were also ceded to the group under Fayemi. The group has therefore become a god unto all political office holders in the state as the impression has been created that they are the kingmakers”.
EDU however welcome how E-11 approached Fayose for a truce but ask them to remove the conditions attached to the truce as they are mercantilist in nature. E-11 had allegedly approached Fayose that they are ready to withdraw their case from court but the incoming governor must give them three commissionership slots, the chairmanship of SUBEB, and their hold on Fountain Hotels.
EDU advised politicians to stop deriding the Nigerian people for their choice warning any party that do such may become the enemy of the people. Using Ekiti as an example, the group said: “No sooner had the people decided on their choice of governor that the opposition went to town, deriding the people as hungry, uneducated, and poor. A land that they once praised as the land of honour all of a sudden became for them a land of poverty where the people “sold their votes for a paltry bag of rice”. For the choice the people made, they were castigated and derided by the very people they had voted into office before. The words “stomach infrastructure” developed and gained prominence in the political lexicon of our beloved country. It was used to regard the Ekiti peoples’ choice as borne out of their poverty and inducement with money for their votes. Such is the attitude of the politicians. Once things do not go their way, the people must be brought down”.
EDU condemned the statement credited to Mr Babatunde Raji Fashola SAN, the governor of Lagos State regarding it as most unkind. The governor allegedly said that “Even if Governor Fayemi is speaking too much English they don’t understand, would they say his deputy and the Speaker of the State House of Assembly are speaking too much English too?” The group then added: “Never in the history of our dear country have a people been condemned over their choice as the APC people had unjustly done to the people of Ekiti. It is particularly painful because Fashola has its roots in Ado-Ekiti.”
On the assault on the judiciary, EDU called on the National Judicial Council (NJC), not only to investigate the issue but also to devise a means of retraining for judicial officers on their conduct as members of the bench. The group noted that state had lost two judges, who were sacked due to political influence.  “In 2006, Justices Kayode Bamisile and Jide Aladejana lost their jobs because of politics. It noted that history may repeat itself if care is not taken.
“A powerful political class is trying to use the law and judicial officers to subvert the will of the Ekiti people. There is also the dangerous addition of tagging the people as criminals and thugs in other to hang them. From time immemorial, people have always mass around courts when there is a judicial process that involves their interest. In 1983, the people of Ondo State formed a human shield around the Supreme Court at Igbosere, Lagos on the day judgement was delivered on the governorship tussle between the late Chief Michael Adekunle Ajasin of UPN, and the late Chief Omoboriowo of NPN. The old Ondo State people were never labelled as thugs and criminals. Also no Justice of the court ever left his hallowed chamber to address the crowd and called them party thugs;
Between 1999 and 2013, General Ishaya Bamaiyi, Major Hamza Al- Mustapha and others faced criminal trials before various courts in Lagos. Every trial day, their supporters, including Chief Frederick Faseun of OPC always massed around court premises. No judge of the High Court of Lagos ever stepped out of his chambers to do security job of telling the crowd how to conduct themselves in court premises. They were not called thugs either!!  Similarly, PDP chieftain, Chief Olabode George went on trial before Justice Olubunmi Oyewole of Ikeja High Court. Every trial date, his supporters invade the serenity of the court with drums, in their Aso-Ebi attire. Yet not a single judge came out to instruct these supporters on how to conduct themselves in court premises. It even got to a point that Governor Babatunde Fashola wrote an opinion on the issue as a lawyer. No judge ever questioned the rights of the people to be in the court premises. Even Fashola, a Senior Advocate never referred to the people as thugs”.
EDU stated further that the state chief judge, Justice Ayodeji Daramola ought to have allowed the Chief Registrar of the High Court to write the petition he wrote to the NJC.  By picking his pen and writing a petition to the NJC, and the Ekiti State Police Commissioner, he has already made a descent into the arena of a conflict. He is now a “party” to the conflict.
“The job of a judge is a job that requires a sober personality. It is conservative and requires a sound person both in learning and character. This why judges hardly speaks except through their pronouncements in cases before them. This is why their judgments have the force of the law. This is why when controversial issues like that which occur at the Ado-Ekiti High Court, both local and national body of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) has the duty to rise up to the occasion and protect, not only the sanctity of the court, but also the integrity of the judge. But milord, Justice Daramola should have waited for these right channels to take action”, the release noted
Edu therefore called on Ekiti elders, particularly the one that are lawyers like Chief Afe Babalola SAN, Chief Wole Olanipekun SAN, Pastor Dele Adesina SAN, and other senior lawyers of Ekiti origin to intervene and allow the will of the people to prevail.