Spontaneous jubilation broke out today all over Ekiti State and in other parts of Nigeria as well as among Nigerians abroad as a panel of the Court of Appeal in Ilorin declared Mr. Kayode Fayemi, the candidate of the Action Congress, as the rightful winner of the 2007 governorship election in the state.
Spontaneous jubilation broke out today all over Ekiti State and in other parts of Nigeria as well as among Nigerians abroad as a panel of the Court of Appeal in Ilorin declared Mr. Kayode Fayemi, the candidate of the Action Congress, as the rightful winner of the 2007 governorship election in the state.
“God bless these judges,” exclaimed an elderly woman at the venue of the court’s sitting.
Signs that Fayemi was on his way to victory emerged when the lead judge in the case, Justice Ayo Salami, ruled that the results for the Ijero as well as Ifaki 1 and 2 electoral wards were simply concocted, manufactured, and purported. The tribunal therefore cancelled the results.
After a thorough analysis of the results of the re-run gubernatorial election that took place in 2009, the judges declared that Fayemi was the clear winner.
The 2009 re-run election was marked by high political drama. In the run-up to the election, former Nigerian ruler Umaru Yar’adua led a PDP campaign team into Ado-Ekiti in what was seen as an act of political intimidation of the voters. At the rally, Speaker of the House Dimeji Bankole assured PDP partisans that the party would use military might to ensure that its candidate, Mr. Segun Oni, was declared the winner.
Oni, an engineer, was foisted on the people of Ekiti in the 2007 governorship election which was massively rigged under the direction of former President Olusegun Obasanjo and with the willing cooperation of Mr. Maurice Iwu, the then chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
After an appellate court invalidated Oni’s election and ordered a new election, the governor of Osun State, Olagunsoye Oyinlola was heard on tape promising PDP chieftains in Ekiti that he would provide thugs in military gear as well as ammunition to enable the party to seize the state again.
The contentious re-run election reached a dramatic climax when the then state electoral commissioner, Mrs. Ayoka Adebayo, wrote a letter of resignation and went into hiding, stating that she was under pressure to falsify the results. Saharareporters reported exclusively that the PDP was behind the attempt to bribe or intimidate Mrs. Adebayo Ekiti to call the wrong winner.
In the wake of Mrs. Adebayo’s disappearance, the Yar’adua regime unfurled a terror strategy to force the woman to come out of hiding and carry out the party’s bidding.
In a shameless show of force, then Inspector General of Police Michael Okiro, Information Minister Dora Akunyili, and Mr. Iwu held a joint press conference and gave the hiding electoral officer an ultimatum to report herself or face harsh consequences. Our sources revealed that the government also threatened the woman’s only son, demanding that he produce his mother or face dire consequences.
Shortly after the threats, Mrs. Adebayo came out of hiding and, after meeting with Iwu at INEC headquarters, told reporters that she was still “a part of the family” and would return to Ekiti to conclude the election. She later declared Oni the winner after INEC had awarded the candidate a ridiculous number of votes in a few wards. Aware that she had played a role in a huge scam and fraud, a visibly shaken Mrs. Adebayo asked those who were unhappy with the result to go to court.
In handing down its verdict today, the Justice Salami panel took a swipe at former INEC boss, Maurice Iwu, accusing him of doing a shoddy job in the re-run election. In giving today’s judgment, Justice Salami also slammed Mrs. Adebayo for colluding in the PDP’s plot to rig the re-run election. The court wondered where her conscience was as she rubberstamped and announced a falsified and fraudulent result.
“Today’s judgment has exposed the kind of suffering that Nigerians have endured under a rapacious PDP that sees Nigeria as a space to be conquered,” said an Abuja-based journalist with Leadership newspaper.
An Ekiti-based medical doctor, who traveled to Ilorin to hear the verdict, told Saharareporters over the phone: “It’s a shame that the people of Ekiti have been ruled by criminal usurpers for more than three years.” He added, “Rigging will not stop in our state or the nation until perpetrators like Engineer Oni and his enablers in INEC like Professor Iwu and Mrs. Adebayo are prosecuted and jailed.”
The appellate tribunal ordered INEC to withdraw the certificate of return issued to PDP's Segun Oni and issue one to Mr. Fayemi with immediate effect.
With today’s outcome, Mr. Fayemi will preside as governor for the next four years before another governorship election will take place. Under a precedent established in the case of Governor Peter Obi of Anambra, the tenure of a candidate whose mandate is upheld by a court is four years from the date of swearing in.
Asked what was next for the people of Ekiti, a confidante of Mr. Fayemi told Saharareporters, “First, the people have a right to celebrate this hard-won victory, which confers great credit on the judiciary. Then, as soon as Dr. Fayemi is sworn in, he will move fast to provide exemplary leadership to the long-suffering people of Ekiti.”
Another AC member told Saharareporters: “You can tell when the judiciary tells the truth because you see the people start to jubilate automatically,” adding that, when judges make the wrong calls in electoral cases, “the place becomes like a funeral.”
Former Governor of Ekiti State, Segun Oni
Bare-chested Ekiti women protested against rigging of the elections in 2009
PDP thugs attacked reporters in Ifaki
Mrs. Ayoka Adebayo, the INEC official who rigged, resigned and returned to certify the controversial election.
Disgraced former INEC chair, Maurice Iwu, supervised the worst general election in Nigeria's history.
Police tortured election monitors and legitimate voters on behalf of the PDP