Anxiety as Supreme Court decides Fayose’s fate Tuesday
April 14, 2015
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- Law News
There is anxiety in Ekiti as the Supreme Court in Abuja would on Tuesday deliver judgment 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 statewide broadcast on Monday asked residents to maintain 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.
Expressing belief in God, he said he was sure that he would be vindicated at the end of the day and triumph over whatever plans launched to truncate his tenure by individuals or groups.
A commercial driver, Ade Bamdele, 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 Appellant went to the appellate court to challenge the victory of Fayose on the grounds that he was not qualified to stand election as a candidate because of his impeachment of October 16, 2006.
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 Abdu Aboki in its judgment on February 16 upheld the judgment of the Tribunal which affirmed Fayose of the PDP 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, the party went 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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