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Gov. Fayose’s Court Orders “Arrest” Of Former Ekiti PDP Secretary

February 3, 2016

A Chief Magistrate Court in Ado-Ekiti, the Ekiti State capital, has ordered the State Commissioner of Police to arrest the former State Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Mr. Temitope Aluko, over alleged perjury.

A Chief Magistrate Court in Ado-Ekiti, the Ekiti State capital, has ordered the State Commissioner of Police to arrest the former State Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Mr. Temitope Aluko, over alleged perjury. 

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Chief Magistrate Adesoji Adegboye gave this order on Wednesday following an ex-parte motion MAD/10cm/2016, filed by the Ekiti State Government against Mr. Aluko and the State Commissioner of Police, pursuant to Section 117 of the Criminal Code Law, Cap C16, law of Ekiti State 2012, Section 79 of the Ekiti State Administration of Criminal Justice Law 2014 and Section 23 (D) of the Magistrates’ Courts Law 2014. In the motion, which was filed and moved by the State Director of Public Prosecution (DPP), Mr. Gbemiga Adaramola, an order of the court was sought to issue the warrant against Mr. Aluko to be executed by the Commissioner for the purpose of committing him to trial for perjury.

Chief Magistrate Adegboye said the order was granted as a means for Aluko to attend the court to defend himself. The matter was premised upon an application to the State Attorney General by a lawyer, Mr. Sunday Olowolafe, calling for the prosecution of Mr. Aluko for alleged perjury, citing an interview he gave to Channels Television last Sunday. “The said Dr Temitope Kolawole Aluko now recanted the evidence he gave in the cause of the hearing of the Ekiti State Governorship Election Petition as a star witness even up to the Supreme Court.

The Certified True Copy of the State on Oath, evidence of Dr. Temitope Kolawole Aluko in Court on the 12/11/14 and Nigerian Tribune and The Punch newspapers of Monday, 01/02/2016 that reported the interview granted are hereto attached,” Olowolafe declared.   He stressed that unless looked into, the matter would definitely defile the cause of justice and rubbish the judicial proceedings. In an affidavit filed in support of the motion by Lere Olayinka, the Special Assistant to the State Governor on Public Communications and New Media, he stated that Mr. Aluko, who had been a witness before the Governorship Election Petition Tribunal, swore to a Statement on Oath on August 4, 2014 stating that the election was not only free and fair, but devoid of violence, thuggery, hooliganism, snatching of ballot boxes, and related forms of electoral disorderliness.

Olayinka further averred that Mr. Aluko tendered and adopted his statement on oath on November 12, 2014 and further gave evidence under cross-examination. He further stated that everything that Aluko said on Channels Television on Sunday contradicted his evidence before the Ekiti State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal. Issuing the warrant of arrest, Chief Magistrate Adegboye said since the court had the power to grant the order and that it will serve the interest of justice, and therefore ordered the Commissioner to arrest Aluko for the purpose of investigating and prosecuting him.