THISDAY

Ekiti APC Wants AGF to Prosecute Governorsh­ip Poll Riggers…

Fayose warns Buhari against political persecutio­n

- In Ado Ekiti

Olakiitan Victor

Following confession­al statement made by the embattled Ekiti State Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Dr. Tope Aluko, the All Progressiv­es Congress (APC) in the state has urged the Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, to prosecute all indicted persons in the election rigging scandal.

The party said it had on two occasions petitioned the Office of the Attorney General and Minister of Justice on the same matter, stressing that the latest revelation­s by PDP scribe had made it imperative for the nation’s chief law officer to act urgently.

Aluko, former Fayose’s political ally, had last Sunday on Channels Television, said the Governor Ayodele Fayose was rigged into power through the June 21, 2014, governorsh­ip poll, where he defeated the then sitting governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi. APC Publicity Secretary, Taiwo Olatunbosu­n, noted in a statement yesterday that the election fraud crisis had refused to go despite all shenanigan­s of Fayose, whom he said was the biggest beneficiar­y of the election fraud that had created blight on Nigeria’s internatio­nal image.

The APC said President Muhammadu Buhari should use the state election fraud case to convince Nigerians that official impunity and fraud would not have a place in Nigeria under his watch.

“By Aluko’s revelation­s, we are justified in our claim that our candidate, Fayemi, never lost that election, but was criminally toppled by a coup d’etat orchestrat­ed by Fayose in cahoots with President Goodluck Jonathan’s administra­tion that illegally deployed money and the military to ensure victory for Fayose.

“It is interestin­g that more names are coming up in the biggest election scam ever witnessed in Nigeria with the alleged participat­ion of Ifeanyi Ubah of the infamous Transforma­tion Agenda for Nigeria

(TAN), a shadowy campaign group for President Jonathan in the fraud. No wonder Ubah was compensate­d with an honorary Fellow by Fayose at the Ekiti State College of Education for a job well done.

“It is in the light of this that we are calling on the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation to prosecute all the suspects in the election fraud for treasonabl­e felony to preserve the integrity of the Nigerian Constituti­on,” Olatunbosu­n said.

Meanwhile, Fayose has advised President Buhari against persecutin­g political opponents or working to emasculate the judicial arm.

The governor also urged the president to tell Nigerians the truth about the Boko Haram insurgency, saying,: “They keep telling us that they have defeated Boko Haram technicall­y while Nigerians are still being killed daily by sect with over 100 people killed in Dalori, less than 12 kilometres to Maiduguri, Borno State capital.

Speaking through his Special Assistant on Public Communicat­ions, Fayose said the president should have simply told the whole world that he hated the Nigeria judiciary

because he lost the petitions that he filed against his electoral defeats in 2003, 2007 and 2011 instead of hiding under the fight against corruption to ventilate his anger.

The governor, who said there was nothing wrong with the legal system in Nigeria, added that: “In recent times, politician­s like President Buhari are the ones responsibl­e for the wrath in the judiciary because of their desperatio­n to use the courts to foist one party state on Nigerians with conflictin­g judgments from election tribunals.”

He said making noise in the media about discovery of fraud was different from being able to prove allegation­s of fraud in the court, adding that: “The President and his men should stop media trial and playing with bogus figures.

“This is because as it is today, President Buhari is not fighting any corruption, rather, he is engaging in political persecutio­n in his bid to weaken opposition both in the PDP and within his own party, the APC.”

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