Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN); Dele Adesina (SAN); Olu Daramola (SAN); Femi Falana (SAN); Dayo Akinlaja (SAN) and Gboyega Oyewole (SAN), had on Wednesday night, issued a statement, condemning as unwarranted, Aribisogan’s purported impeachment and calling for his immediate reinstatement.
The Ekiti Patriotic Consultative Forum (EPCF) has condemned a derogatory post published on 24 November 2022 by an online news platform, Globalhotlinenews, against elder statesmen, Aare Afe Babalola, Chief Wole Olanipekun, and Mr. Femi Falana over their comments on the Ekiti House of Assembly leadership tussle.
Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN); Dele Adesina (SAN); Olu Daramola (SAN); Femi Falana (SAN); Dayo Akinlaja (SAN) and Gboyega Oyewole (SAN), had on Wednesday night, issued a statement, condemning as unwarranted, Aribisogan’s purported impeachment and calling for his immediate reinstatement.
The senior lawyers also said that Mrs. Bunmi Adelugba, elected as Speaker after Aribisogan’s impeachment should stop parading herself as the new Speaker, saying her purported election was irregular.
The consultative forum in a statement released by Gbenga Babawibe, claimed that one Ekiti Development Agenda through a pseudo name tagged Mr. Odun Igbalajobi without any known address nor relations in Ekiti, published a post that derogated the personality and reputation of the senior lawyers.
The statement reads in part: "Having forgotten that they have left office, the sponsors of the faceless writer issued the reckless statement with the logo of the Ekiti State Government. We would not have taken such gonzo journalism seriously save for the fact that the well-known author and sponsor of the write-up did deliberately murder history in order to justify his attempt to accentuate his political hegemony in Ekiti State, and by so doing he took needless effort to ridicule, disparage and tell blatant lies against our revered Legal Icons in Ekiti, an accolade they earned through sheer hard work, self-development, and not on the altar of any political abracadabra or patronage.
"These are illustrious sons of Ekiti, who had created niche for themselves, and they have strived in their private endeavours to place the name of Ekiti in the world map. They continue to make Ekiti a relevant entity in the comity of States, far beyond where any professional politician, a power monger could ever push it. These men are the real leaders, and anyone can boast of their enviable achievement in life. Any civilised society would love to associate with them in order to always take advantage of their wealth of experience and draw from their pool of wisdom.
"We wish to applaud and queue behind the noble intervention of these brave men over the ongoing needless political crisis in our dear State which was fuelled by sheer inordinate ambition of a political marauder whom the author has unwittingly unveiled in his write-up. The current happenings in the State should be of serious worry and concern to every patriotic indigene of Ekiti, for having our state as the centrepiece of political rascality and theatre of acts that are antithetical to normal democratic practices. We thought such time has passed in our anal as a State.
“We wish to correct the misconceived impression painted by the author of the writeup thatonce their Party leaders and their political party are satisfied with the activities in the Ekiti State House of Assembly that nothing should concern anyone else in the State. It should be noted and they should have it sink to their thin skulls that the Ekiti State House of Assembly belong to Ekiti State and not any political party, or her promoters; maybe they have forgotten that the Assembly is being maintained with tax-payers fund and not their political party's money.
“Moreso, they represent the good people of Ekiti State in the Assembly, not their political party as erroneously propagated. The unconscious ignorance of arrogating the Assembly to a political party is misplaced and such political entitlement should stop forthwith.
"We would not delve into those issues that have been raised by our fathers in the communiqué signed by them in their opposition against the ignoble, undemocratic and politically orchestrated act of impeachment of the Speaker by the Honourable members of the House of Assembly; however, we shall react to those baseless and blatant allegations levied against these nobles by the promoter of the political shenanigan in order to justify the shameless act of hand twisting the parliamentary business of Ekiti-e community.
"In the shallow mind of the pseudo writer and the promoters, they were of the opinion that these legal icons in Ekiti were masquerading to fight their political Cesar, Mr. Kayode Fayemi and because of that the former Governor went on a lie spree to convince his gullible readers that the intervention of these nobles and elder statesmen were laced with ulterior motives to show resentment to him (Kayode Fayemi) and to fight because of beef they have against him. This is a lie from the pit of hell, and it can only come from a deluded mind. Lies told unchallenged maybe taken to be the truth.
"Finally, we condemn the tirade, innuendo, and open attack on our revered Icons of repute, these are noble men of international stature, and men that their names open doors for Ekiti indigenes in Nigeria. They are Legal luminaries that their opinions are sought for over National issues as Ministers in the temple of justice, and they would be betraying their calling if they refuse to stand and challenge injustice festering to suffocate the rule of law in their home state just because they are afraid to be tagged names by the political ragtags.
"A single state is having the trio of Aare Afe Babalola, Chief Wole Olanipekun, and Mr. Femi Falana as leading lights, yet some charlatans want to turn such state to a theatre of political rascality while portraying them in negative light to suppress their voices. The intelligent citizens among us shall continue to offer support for these great men till every appearance of despot and governance by proxy is defeated and permanently put to extinction in our polity."