There was anxiety 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.
PUNCH.