Non-release of our colleague by DSS vindicates us – Ekiti Speaker

The Speaker of the Ekiti State House of Assembly, Hon. Kola Oluwawole, has said the House has been vindicated over its claim that the Federal Government has an ulterior motive for holding a member of the Assembly, Hon. Afolabi Akanni, and keeping mute about what it knows about three others abducted by the Department of State Services on March 4.
Oluwawole said this in a statement by his Special Assistant (Media), Stephen Gbadamosi, on Wednesday.
This was after the DSS failed to honour a judgment of a Federal High Court sitting in Ado-Ekiti, the state capital, directing it to release Akanni immediately or produce him before the court on Wednesday to give reasons why he should not be so released.
As of the close of work on Wednesday, Akanni had not been produced in court or released from the DSS custody.
There had also been reports that the DSS in the state had made it impossible for Akanni’s lawyer to gain entrance into the Service’s premises to present the court’s order officially.
Oluwawole said: “We have said times without number that this particular case of DSS invading the Ekiti State House of Assembly is in no way about fighting any crime; it is simply a case of political vendetta. When the Federal High Court in Ado-Ekiti, headed by Justice Taiwo Taiwo, handed down the judgment last Thursday, we felt that the course of justice was about to be followed, but we were mindful of the fact that the executive had disobeyed many court orders in the past.
“That is why we have kept on calling on relevant stakeholders that the Ekiti case is like the more you look, the less you see. There is no allegation against the four members of the House that they had held since the last two weeks and they were not released, neither were they produced before any competent court of law for any offence.
“We, in the Ekiti State House of Assembly, believe in the principles of separation of powers and the rule of law. That is why we have said that the Federal Government has more than the ordinary interest in the political issue in Ekiti State. It should be prevailed upon to allow democracy to work at all levels of governance.”