TheCable

BY TEMITOPE YAKUBU

Oluwole Olujobi, spokesman to Kayode Fayemi, governor-elect of Ekiti state, has explained why his principal hired 35 lawyers to defend him at the governorship tribunal.

Fayemi, who ran on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC), defeated Kolapo Olusola of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the election.

Jackson Adebayo, spokesman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state, had alleged that Fayemi hired many lawyers to defend him at the tribunal because he knows that he did not win the election.

“It is only a person who stole or went for robbery that will be panicking and resort to hiring over 35 lawyers over a case they once boasted is nothing to bother about,” Jackson said.

“The have boasted that this petition is a waste of time, then we don’t know why they decided to hire eight SANs, different lawyers and so on. I think when a case is baseless, they supposed to take it with levity. I can see their actions as people who are jittery and they believe that eventually what they are hiding will be unfolded in the tribunal.”

But Olujobi dismissed the allegation of Jackson, saying Fayemi has the right to hire whoever he likes to represent him.

“There is nothing bad in hiring 35 lawyers, if you are prepared for a case, go and make sure you have quality representation, that’s exactly what Dr. Kayode Fayemi did,” Olujobi told TheCable.

“We know the blackmail will follow this petition and this is what they have started. What is their business if we hire eight SANs? Did we sue ourselves? They sued us and we responded by hiring quality lawyers. If they are so sure of their case, why are they scared about us hiring eight SANS and other lawyers? Let them go and hire 50 SANs, we are fully ready for them.

“Are these SANs not even Nigerian lawyers? If they are Nigerian lawyers and the constitution says Nigerian lawyers must be in court to defend, why would we shy away from hiring anybody that is recognised in law as a lawyer to defend us.”

The Ekiti governor-elect spokesman also described the petition of the PDP as baseless.

“Look at the basis of their arguments, in the process of inspecting the ballot papers used by our lawyers, it was discovered that it was votes meant for Dr. Kayode Fayemi that were voided,” he said.