Fayemi/Oni suit: Police tighten security in Ekiti

Ekiti State Police Command has beefed up security across the state as the people wait anxiously for the Supreme Court judgment on Friday (today) in the appeal instituted by ousted Governor Segun Oni of the Peoples Democratic Party against Governor Kayode Fayemi.

The Ekiti Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. Victor Babayemi, told our correspondent on the telephone on Thursday that the command had deployed its men in strategic points across the state.

He added that the Commissioner of Police, Mr. Sotonye Wakama, had held a meeting with leaders of various political parties in the state to ensure that there would be no breakdown of law and order.

The PPRO said, “Our intelligence unit has been sent out to gather information. We have also deployed our men in all strategic positions across the state to forestall breakdown of law and order that may arise as a result of the judgment.

“We do not foresee any crisis before, during and after the judgment. But we are urging parents to talk to their children not to allow themselves to be used to foment trouble.”

Oni’s appeal is the fallout of the dispute resulting from the conduct of April 14, 2007 governorship election and the rerun poll held on April 25 and May 5 2009 after Oni’s election was nullified by the Court of Appeal in Ilorin in February 2009.

The Court of Appeal panel headed by Justice Ayo Salami in Ilorin had on October 15, 2010 sacked Oni from office.

Oni, however, six months after, returned to the Court of Appeal in Ado Ekiti asking the court to set aside the judgment which removed him from office.

He claimed that there was a likelihood of bias in the verdict which removed him from office because of alleged cordiality between Salami and the National Leader of the Action Congress of Nigeria, Bola Tinubu.

He said Salami ought to have excused himself from the case since Tinubu was his “close associate.”

The five-man panel, which heard the case at the Court of Appeal in Ado Ekiti dismissed the case, saying the appellant ought to have raised the allegation of bias against Salami before the panel delivered the judgment.

Dissatisfied with the ruling, the ousted governor headed for the Supreme Court and prayed the court to set aside the verdict of the Appeal Court delivered on Monday February 27, 2012 and to also set aside the judgment of the Court of Appeal, Ilorin, delivered on October 15, 2010 nullifying his election.

PUNCH