The Supreme Court on Friday declared Dr. Kayode Fayemi as the validly elected governor of Ekiti State.
This followed the refusal of the pleas of a former Governor of the state, Chief Segun Oni, that Fayemi’s election was fraught with discrepancies that were enough to invalidate it.
The decision of the Supreme Court immediately led to wild jubilation in Ado-Ekiti, the Ekiti State capital, and other parts of the state by supporters of the governor.
The Supreme Court backed the position of the Court of Appeal, sitting in Ilorin, Kwara State, that Fayemi was validly elected.
The Court of Appeal delivered its ruling on October 15, 2010.
As soon as news of Fayemi’s victory reached his supporters and well-wishers, they took to the streets of Ado-Ekiti in their thousands to celebrate the long-awaited verdict.
The supporters, who held their brooms, the symbol of the Action Congress of Nigeria, the platform on which Fayemi rode to power, sang various songs of solidarity and victory.
They chanted different slogans, including the popular “4+4= 8” and “JKF- Just Keep Faith”, “Eyiyato” among others.
There was traffic congestion on both lanes from Fajuyi to Old Garage, with different groups and bands singing and dancing, while commuters took alternative routes through Oke Ori Omi-Aremu-Irona Road and Ile Abiye-GRA-Fajuyi Road to get to their destinations.
Addressing the party’s supporters in Ado Ekiti, the Deputy Governor, Prof. Modupe Adelabu; the wife of the governor, Erelu Bisi Fayemi; the Secretary to the State Government, Alhaji Ganiyu Owolabi; and the Chief of Staff, Yemi Adaramodu, thanked the people for supporting the party and Fayemi throughout the judicial tussle.
They assured them that the Fayemi-led administration would not relent in pursuing people-oriented programmes and projects as spelt out in the 8-point agenda of the administration.
Reacting, Fayemi lauded the country’s judiciary for again demonstrating its resolve to always uphold the tenet of truth and justice by dismissing the petition by Oni, who had sought a review of the Court of Appeal ruling on Ekiti State governorship on October 15, 2010.
The governor also thanked all Ekiti State people for their unflinching support for his administration and for believing in the sanctity of truth.
He said that the victory has again confirmed that truth will always prevail no matter the situation and that Ekiti State will no longer be governed through fraudulent means.
Governor Fayemi, who addressed journalists at the Ekiti State Governor’s Lodge in Abuja shortly after the landmark judgement of the Supreme Court, said there was no basis for the petition by Oni, adding that his claims were frivolous, baseless and a waste of time.
Oni, Fayemi said, had sought to use the frivolous case, which had spanned over two years, to distract him from actualising the developmental efforts going on in Ekiti State and to give a false hope to his followers.
He however said that in spite of the long drawn legal battle, he had refused to be distracted, stressing that this is evident in the transformation going on in the state and the value that the administration has added to the lives of the average citizens.
Fayemi said it was high time electoral offenders were punished under the law to serve as a deterrent to others and to clean up the electoral process.
He said: “Oni and his jesters merely sought to use this case to distract us, but we refused to be distracted. We have remained focused all through concentrating on the development of the state and this is evident in the lives of the people.
“I think we should also put in place laws that will punish electoral offenders. I believe if Oni had been punished for rigging the 2007 governorship election in Ekiti State, he would not have had the effrontery to approach the court again seeking a backdoor to the governorship seat. It is sad that he rigged the 2007 election and was at the helms of affair of the state illegally for three and a half years, while I, the winner of the election was in court until the case was eventually decided in my favour in 2010 at the Court of Appeal.
“If the court having found Oni guilty of fraudulently occupying the governorship seat of Ekiti State and had gone ahead to punish him then, we would have been spared this unnecessary case, which to me only shows how desperate some people can be.”
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