-PM News, Lagos
There are indications that the embattled Governor of Ekiti State, Dr. Ayodele Fayose, is set to quit following moves by the State House of Assembly to impeach him. The governor is taking this option, P.M.News gathered, to stave off the impeachment process and to avoid the shame that would follow his impeachment. He was reportedly prevailed upon by President Olusegun Obasanjo to resign and face the allegations of corrupt enrichment levelled against him by EFCC and save himself from imminent impeachment which would bring disgrace to him and his family.
Both Fayose and his deputy, Mrs. Abiodun Olujinmi, were last week served impeachment notices by 24 of the 26-member state legislature accusing them of embezzlement and misappropriation of public funds. P.M.News gathered that Fayose’s decision to quit may lead to the lawmakers soft pedalling on his deputy so as not to create a constitutional impasse. There are feelers, however, that many political leaders in Ekiti have rejected Olujinmi, saying that it will be a shame if she becomes governor. The leaders argued that there is no difference between Fayose and Olujinmi.
P.M.News also gathered that Ekiti Network Alliance this morning filed a motion at the Ikeja High Court seeking an order barring the PDP leadership from undue interference in the impeachment process. Even though the original intention of the lawmakers was to impeach both Fayose and Olujinmi, and thereafter instal the speaker and majority leader of the house as governor and deputy governor respectively, constitutional issues were raised to the effect that the speaker can only act as governor of the state for only 90 days before an election is held to elect a new governor.
Going by this, it is doubtful if INEC, which is already bogged down by preparations for the 2007 elections, would consent to organising a bye-election in Ekiti to elect a new governor for the state before its scheduled April 2007 governorship election across the country. Fayose, who had earlier rejected Obasanjo’s advice to resign, preferring instead to slug it out with the lawmakers, who had gone into hiding to perfect the impeachment, was said to have quietly decided on the resignation option after he was warned against disobeying Obasanjo’s advice and the president’s decision to shun South-West governors who had made spirited attempts to save him from impeachment.
The governors, who tried to see Obasanjo yesterday in Aso Rock over the Fayose saga, were denied audience by the president who described Fayose’s case as closed. The president, it was learnt, was angry that Fayose did not heed his advice to resign immediately but chose to fight the legislators to the bitterest end. Meanwhile, the police have beefed up security in the state following rallies being held by anti-Fayose demonstrators in the state. Thousands of placard-carrying youths yesterday stormed the major streets of Ekiti to protest the continued stay of Fayose in office.
The demonstrators, who are mainly youths, threw their weight behind the decision of the state lawmakers to impeach the governor. The kernel of the allegations levelled against the governor is that he embezzled N1.5 billion fund of the Ekiti State poultry project. The money was used to build houses in Ibadan, Ekiti, Lagos while the rest were kept in foreign accounts.
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