TheCable

Ayodele Fayose, governor of Ekiti state, says plans by the All Progressives Congress (APC) lawmakers in the state to impeach him will be futile, because he has the mandate of Ekiti people to lead them for another four years.

Reports emerged at the weekend that earlier during the week, 19 lawmakers served Fayose with an impeachment notice titled: ‘Re: Notice of Allegations of Gross Misconduct’ and detailing eight impeachable offences against the governor bordering on impunity, brigandage, stalking and other constitutional breaches.

They accused Fayose of masterminding the invasion of the state house of assembly by thugs and miscreants, instigating an unconstitutional takeover of the House by seven legislators to sit in contravention of Section 96(2) of the 1999 Constitution, and preventing the 19 APC legislators from performing their duties with the use of security agents and armed thugs.

He was also accused of sponsoring an unlawful impeachment process in the house, spending state funds without the requisite constitutional approval in contravention of the constitution, and running the government without a legally-constituted executive council, in contravention of Section 192(2) of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

They as well accused him of operating an illegal 2014 budget and sponsoring and instigating illegal sitting of the house, in contravention of Section 96(1) of the Constitution.

But responding on Sunday in a statement signed by Lere Olayinka, his special assistant on public communications and new media, Fayose described his governorship as a mandate freely and wholeheartedly given by Ekiti people.

He also urged Mahmud Mohammed, the chief justice of nigeria, to sustain his stand of not allowing the use of the judiciary to change the outcome of elections.

“Ekiti people who are the owners of my mandate will defend it against political usurpers, whom they had rejected twice in the last nine months,” Fayose said.

“The noise of impeachment and supreme court judgment being made by the All Progressives Congress (APC) is a plot to distract me from concentrating on governance and the coming house of assembly election.”

He called on members and supporters of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state not to be distracted from their goal of delivering all the 26 Assembly seats in the State to the party, saying: “Sovereignty belongs to the people and the people of Ekiti state on June 21, 2014, surrendered their sovereignty to me to be their governor for four years.

“Instead of respecting the wish of Ekiti people, which they again affirmed on March 28 and will further affirm on April 4, the APC people that were rejected in two free and fair elections have been trying all tricks to return to power through the back door. They filed several cases in their bid to stop my inauguration as governor and even committed murder in the process.

“The speaker of the state house of assembly then, Dr Adewale Omirin was assured of assuming office as acting governor and that informed his non-attendance of my inauguration, as he was still hoping that even on October 16, 2014, a court order would be gotten to stop my inauguration.

“Their evil plots against the mandate of Ekiti people failed then, but up to now, they are not relenting. Today, even though Omirin has been duly impeached, he still believes he can be acting governor while Dr Kayode Fayemi that was roundly rejected by Ekiti people is also boasting that he will return to power through the instrumentality of the court.

“However, let me warn the APC as a party to respect the wish of Ekiti people as the PDP and President Goodluck Jonathan respected the wish of Nigerians on the election of Major General Mohammadu Buhari (rtd).

“Any attempt to undermine the sovereignty of Ekiti people, using whatever instrument, will be resisted by the people themselves because power belongs to the people and they have handed it to whom they desire to exercise till October 16, 2018.

“The APC gladiators in Ekiti should therefore emulate President Jonathan and the PDP by waiting till 2018 to try their luck again.”