konknaijaboy | On 06, Apr 2015

Source: Per Second News

OFFICERS and men of the Ekiti State Police Command  have beefed up security network in Ado Ekiti and various parts of the state following the impeachment threat by the 19 All Progressive Congress, APC, lawmakers against the state governor, Mr. Ayo Fayose.
Speaking with newsmen in Ado Ekiti, yesterday, the state police Commissioner, Mr. Taiwo Lakanu, said the command has put up a 24-hour surveillance around Ado Ekiti, the state capital particularly the state House of Assembly.

His words “Security personnel have been placed on alert while high visibility patrol is being conducted around Ado Ekiti. We know the tension generated must have caused some apprehension, but we are being proactive because the security of lives and property and general peace of the people is our topmost priority. We are leaving no stone unturned to ensure safety of our citizens and for everybody to go about their normal business without fear or harassment.”

 

The 19 APC lawmakers were said to have served notice of gross misconduct against Governor Ayodele Fayose, but the governor claimed ignorance over the letter, describing the APC lawmakers as jesters.

Omirin’s security detail restored

In a sudden twist of fate, the Police authorities were, yesterday, quoted as directing that the full security details of the factional Speaker of the Ekiti State House of Assembly, Dr. Adewale Omirin, be restored with immediate effect.

The development follows the restoration of the Department of State Service, DSS, personnel attached to Omirin earlier in the day through a directive said to have been issued from Abuja, according to a source close to the Speaker.

It is expected that the Omirin-led lawmakers would hold a plenary session at the  Ekiti state House of Assembly on tomorrow, having adjourned after their sitting last Thursday at the same venue.

The 19 All Progressives Congress lawmakers in the Ekiti State House of Assembly had last week initiated moves that may lead to impeachment proceedings against the embattled Governor Fayose.

The Speaker forwarded a notice of gross misconduct to the governor, with a copy of the notice also being sent to his deputy, Dr. Olusola Eleka.
But Fayose in his characteristic manner said the APC lawmakers should stop acting like “jesters”, describing the purported impeachment notice as the “joke of the century.” According to him, the script being acted by the APC is a failed one because no one, no matter how highly placed, will be allowed to test the will of the Ekiti people.

Offences levelled against Fayose
In the letter by the 19 lawmakers entitled, “Re: Notice of Allegations of Gross Misconduct,” sent to Fayose, the APC lawmakers listed eight impeachable offences against the governor.

The offences bordered on impunity, brigandage, stalking and other constitutional breaches including alleged invasion of the House of Assembly with 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 prevention of the 19 APC legislators from performing their duties with the use of security agents and armed thugs.

Other allegations listed in the notice are: sponsoring an unlawful impeachment process in the house, spending Ekiti State funds without the requisite constitutional approval in contravention of the constitution and running the government without legally constituted Executive Council in contravention of Section 192(2) of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. They also accused the governor of operating an illegal 2014 budget as well as sponsoring and instigating illegal sitting of the House in contravention of Section 96(1) of the Constitution.

Ekiti people will defend their mandate – Fayose
Meantime, Fayose was, yesterday, said to have described his governorship as a mandate freely and wholeheartedly given by Ekiti people, saying; “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.”

According to his Special Assistant on Public Communications and New Media, Lere Olayinka, the governor also urged the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Mahmud Mohammed, to sustain his stand of not allowing the use of the judiciary to change the outcome of elections.