The 19 All Progressives Congress lawmakers in Ekiti State House of Assembly have told Governor Ayodele Fayose that impunity and manipulation of facts of his impeachment case in the media cannot save him from facing the law over sundry infractions of the law for which he is facing impeachment.
Reacting to media reports on the ruling of the Federal High Court in Abuja, which refused Fayose and seven Peoples Democratic Party lawmakers’ request barring APC lawmakers from continuing his impeachment process, Wole Olujobi, the Special Adviser to former Speaker, Hon. Adewale Omirin, said in a statement that the APC lawmakers were surprised that the governor and his men could deliberately misrepresent the fact of the ruling to mislead the public.
Olujobi said: “It is incredible that the governor and the PDP lawmakers could manipulate the press again to mislead the public that the ruling by Justice Evoh Chukwu was in their favour. While the judge clearly ruled that it could not stop Fayose’s impeachment without hearing from the APC lawmakers, the governor’s storm troopers went to town in a contempt of court to turn full circle the ruling by the judge.”
The lawmakers expressed dismay over the ease with which Fayose is having a rough ride on the institutions of democracy to have his way, stressing that so far, the governor had presented himself as a threat to the survival of democracy in Nigeria.
The statement said: “He first raided the courts and chased the judges under their tables and subsequently closed the courts. After that, he closed the House of Assembly and chased the lawmakers out of town. Then it is the turn of the Fourth Estate of the Realm, the media, in a mindless fraud and manipulation of the press to have an upper hand in the face of flagrant trampling on the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,” the statement explained, adding:
“Just few days ago, the governor’s agents hacked into Channels television’s website to plant a story implicating Speaker Adewale Omirin and Senator Babafemi Ojudu as engaging in impeachment funding fraud totalling N250 million.
“Fayose is now creating for himself a reputation as an enemy of the state who within few months killed all democratic institutions and their supporting structures in Nigeria in a mindless pursuit of power.”
The statement urged the court to establish contempt charge against the governor and his men for this thoughtless manipulation and misrepresentation of the ruling to put the court in bad light.
It said the latest was one in the series of misdemeanours by the governor over which his supporters have said nothing while always trying to find fault with APC lawmakers.
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