Kayode Fayemi: The Dogged Fighter For Democracy
A few weeks after their historic victory at the Appeals Court, the people of Ekiti State still savor their freedom from the stranglehold of the illegal Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)'s government imposed on them since May 29, 2007.
Their freedom finally came after three and half years through the legal system on October 15, 2010, when the Appeal Court sitting in Ilorin, Kwara State declared Dr. Kayode fayemi, the gubernatorial candidate of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in the 2007 election, the duly elected governor of Ekiti State, instead of the usurper, Chief Segun Oni of the PDP who had held sway in the state as governor since May 29, 2007.
The provocative declaration of the PDP as the winning party in the election that was overwhelmingly won by the ACN could have set the state on fire, if Fayemi had been a do-or-die politician like most politicians of the PDP hue, but he elected to seek for justice through the judicial process. Those who have had cause to use the court as a means of last resort to get justice knew how draining it is financially and otherwise. It was a journey that Fayemi embarked upon for close to four years impervious by hiccups along the way that could have discouraged the faint hearted.
Ekiti governorship tussle was believed to be the most fought electoral litigation in the history of this nation, having passed through the Tribunal and Appeal Courts twice - 2007 and 2009 respectively.
At the 2007 election, Segun Oni was credited with 177,133 votes while Fayemi polled 108,369 votes. But these results were challenged at the Justice Bukar Bwala-led election Tribunal that was constituted by the president of the Courts of Appeal, Justice Umaru Abdullahi (rtd). But to the chagrin of the majority of Ekiti people that voted for ACN, Bwala in a unianimous verdict of August 28, 2008, upheld the election of Oni and dismissed the petition of Fayemi on the ground of lacking the requisite evidential value to enhance its sustenance.
This made Fayemi's boast then that he would retrieve the stolen mandate through judicial process sound very hollow.
Undisturbed by the verdict he proceeded to the Courts of Appeal, maintaining that he pulled the highest number of lawful votes in the election. Confirming this stand, the Justice Mohammed Dattijo-led Appeal Tribunal, had on February 17, 2009 nullified the election of Oni and ordered a rerun in 63 wards in ten local government areas of the state.
Chief Oni was pronounced the winner of the election despite the burning of the INEC office in Ido Ekiti and the voters' registers in the local government by people suspected to be party thugs, the disenfranchising of ACN members in Ifaki Ekiti, Oni's country home and the perpetration of various electoral offences, coupled with the earlier rejection of the concocted Ido/Odi results by Mrs. Adebayo before she was compelled to accept them by Abuja forces.
On June 6, 2009, another round of legal battle commenced at the Justice Hamma Barka led Tribunal sitting in Ado Ekiti and lasted for 11 months before the judgment was dispensed again in favour of Oni on May 5, 2010.
Barka, and two other judges, Justices Mohammed Goji and Yusuf Dikko delivered the majority judgement that consolidated the victory of Oni. Though, Barka cancelled the results of some units in Ifaki, Ipoti, and in Usi Ekiti, yet Oni still lead with about 4, 170 votes.
However, Justice Abiodun Adebara and Obande Ogbunya delivered a minority judgment that declared Fayemi as the winner of the election and credited him with a total vote of 105,631, while Oni was credited with a total vote of 95,176.
Following the barrage of criticisms that accompanied the verdict by politicians, lawyers and eminent Nigerians which largely questioned the integrity of the nation's judiciary, Justice Ayo Salami, President of the Court of Appeal decided to chair the Appeal Court, which on October 15, vindicated Fayemi and declared him the actual winner of the election.
By virtue of the court ruling last month, Fayemi became the newest governor in town, stirring wild jubilation at the length and breadth of Ekiti State.
The reverberation of Fayemi's Ekiti victory was felt all over the Southwest geo-political zone as the opposition parties in the zone have once again successfully reclaimed another state stolen by the PDP in 2003. It also proved without doubt, that a new leader of Yoruba politics in the person of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the former governor of Lagos State, has emerged to determine the direction of the race in the 2011 elections.
Fayemi ,by his victory through well tested democratic process also helped to clip the wings of former president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo who led the marauding PDP in 2003 to steal votes in the zone in his highly distasteful bid to be recognized as a political leader of repute from the zone. Only recently Obasanjo, the worst civilian president the country has ever had gathered South West governors to ostensibly endorse President Jonathan as the preferred presidential candidate of the zone in total disregard of the zoning arrangement of the PDP.
Oni was present at the meeting convened in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital. It is very significant that on the Election Day for president in 2011, Chief Oni and his thieving PDP members will not be in a position to help Jonathan steal votes, the PDP style.
For helping to clip the political wing of the worst civilian dictator that the country has ever produced and for believing totally in the judicial process in his quest to achieve justice, Fayemi has contributed in strengthening democracy in Africa's most populous nation.
It is also very instructive that Fayemi's first act as governor was to declare free education at Primary and Secondary levels in the state while announcing a review of the over N120,000 tuition fees being paid by the students of the state university of Edo Ekiti and other state owned tertiary institution, at a time when the disgraced illegal governor was owing workers' salary and the education sector was in shambles. There is no better dividend of democracy than making education accessible to the poor masses of the society. This dividend of democracy came to Ekiti people, through their hero of democracy , Dr. Kayode Fayemi . A leader in tune with their hope and aspiration.
Their freedom finally came after three and half years through the legal system on October 15, 2010, when the Appeal Court sitting in Ilorin, Kwara State declared Dr. Kayode fayemi, the gubernatorial candidate of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in the 2007 election, the duly elected governor of Ekiti State, instead of the usurper, Chief Segun Oni of the PDP who had held sway in the state as governor since May 29, 2007.
The provocative declaration of the PDP as the winning party in the election that was overwhelmingly won by the ACN could have set the state on fire, if Fayemi had been a do-or-die politician like most politicians of the PDP hue, but he elected to seek for justice through the judicial process. Those who have had cause to use the court as a means of last resort to get justice knew how draining it is financially and otherwise. It was a journey that Fayemi embarked upon for close to four years impervious by hiccups along the way that could have discouraged the faint hearted.
Ekiti governorship tussle was believed to be the most fought electoral litigation in the history of this nation, having passed through the Tribunal and Appeal Courts twice - 2007 and 2009 respectively.
At the 2007 election, Segun Oni was credited with 177,133 votes while Fayemi polled 108,369 votes. But these results were challenged at the Justice Bukar Bwala-led election Tribunal that was constituted by the president of the Courts of Appeal, Justice Umaru Abdullahi (rtd). But to the chagrin of the majority of Ekiti people that voted for ACN, Bwala in a unianimous verdict of August 28, 2008, upheld the election of Oni and dismissed the petition of Fayemi on the ground of lacking the requisite evidential value to enhance its sustenance.
This made Fayemi's boast then that he would retrieve the stolen mandate through judicial process sound very hollow.
Undisturbed by the verdict he proceeded to the Courts of Appeal, maintaining that he pulled the highest number of lawful votes in the election. Confirming this stand, the Justice Mohammed Dattijo-led Appeal Tribunal, had on February 17, 2009 nullified the election of Oni and ordered a rerun in 63 wards in ten local government areas of the state.
Chief Oni was pronounced the winner of the election despite the burning of the INEC office in Ido Ekiti and the voters' registers in the local government by people suspected to be party thugs, the disenfranchising of ACN members in Ifaki Ekiti, Oni's country home and the perpetration of various electoral offences, coupled with the earlier rejection of the concocted Ido/Odi results by Mrs. Adebayo before she was compelled to accept them by Abuja forces.
On June 6, 2009, another round of legal battle commenced at the Justice Hamma Barka led Tribunal sitting in Ado Ekiti and lasted for 11 months before the judgment was dispensed again in favour of Oni on May 5, 2010.
Barka, and two other judges, Justices Mohammed Goji and Yusuf Dikko delivered the majority judgement that consolidated the victory of Oni. Though, Barka cancelled the results of some units in Ifaki, Ipoti, and in Usi Ekiti, yet Oni still lead with about 4, 170 votes.
However, Justice Abiodun Adebara and Obande Ogbunya delivered a minority judgment that declared Fayemi as the winner of the election and credited him with a total vote of 105,631, while Oni was credited with a total vote of 95,176.
Following the barrage of criticisms that accompanied the verdict by politicians, lawyers and eminent Nigerians which largely questioned the integrity of the nation's judiciary, Justice Ayo Salami, President of the Court of Appeal decided to chair the Appeal Court, which on October 15, vindicated Fayemi and declared him the actual winner of the election.
By virtue of the court ruling last month, Fayemi became the newest governor in town, stirring wild jubilation at the length and breadth of Ekiti State.
The reverberation of Fayemi's Ekiti victory was felt all over the Southwest geo-political zone as the opposition parties in the zone have once again successfully reclaimed another state stolen by the PDP in 2003. It also proved without doubt, that a new leader of Yoruba politics in the person of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the former governor of Lagos State, has emerged to determine the direction of the race in the 2011 elections.
Fayemi ,by his victory through well tested democratic process also helped to clip the wings of former president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo who led the marauding PDP in 2003 to steal votes in the zone in his highly distasteful bid to be recognized as a political leader of repute from the zone. Only recently Obasanjo, the worst civilian president the country has ever had gathered South West governors to ostensibly endorse President Jonathan as the preferred presidential candidate of the zone in total disregard of the zoning arrangement of the PDP.
Oni was present at the meeting convened in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital. It is very significant that on the Election Day for president in 2011, Chief Oni and his thieving PDP members will not be in a position to help Jonathan steal votes, the PDP style.
For helping to clip the political wing of the worst civilian dictator that the country has ever produced and for believing totally in the judicial process in his quest to achieve justice, Fayemi has contributed in strengthening democracy in Africa's most populous nation.
It is also very instructive that Fayemi's first act as governor was to declare free education at Primary and Secondary levels in the state while announcing a review of the over N120,000 tuition fees being paid by the students of the state university of Edo Ekiti and other state owned tertiary institution, at a time when the disgraced illegal governor was owing workers' salary and the education sector was in shambles. There is no better dividend of democracy than making education accessible to the poor masses of the society. This dividend of democracy came to Ekiti people, through their hero of democracy , Dr. Kayode Fayemi . A leader in tune with their hope and aspiration.
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