The Ekiti State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), yesterday, declared that the alleged subterranean moves to impeach Governor Peter Ayodele Fayose as the governor of Ekiti State will lead to a total collapse of the administration of President Muhamadu Buhari, if eventually carried out.
The party described as reasonable and justifiable, the letter written last Wednesday by the governor to the Chief Justice of the Federation, Justice Walter Onnoghen, informing him about the alleged moves to co-opt a section of the judiciary to the devilish plot.
Speaking in Ado Ekiti, the state capital, yesterday, the PDP State Chairman, Barr. Gboyega Oguntuase, said the alleged plot to remove the governor would create crisis of monumental proportion that would be difficult for the Nigeria Army to curtail.
Oguntuase branded Fayose as a man of the people and the opposition leader in the country, who commands enormous followership across the six geopolitical zones of the country.
“Governor Fayose is not just the Governor of Ekiti State, but the opposition voice in Nigeria. He speaks for all the oppressed Nigerians in the South-West, South-East, South-South, North-Central and even in the far North.
“Removing Governor Fayose from the power is like removing the whole Ekiti who voted for him in all the 16 local government areas of this state. Any war wage against our governor will be resisted by the people from all these zones.
“Governor Fayose has been the most consistent critic of President Buhari’s government, particularly against the poorly managed economy leading to this recession. So, all Nigerians will rise against this evil plot.
“If you look at the results of the 2014 governorship poll, you would think it was a tsunami because he won in all the 16 local governments.
If truly democracy still remains the government of the people, then attempt to remove Governor Fayose will be tantamount to usurpation of the people’s power”, he said.
Contrary to insinuation by some people that the governor only played to the gallery by his letter to the CJN, Oguntuase justified the action, saying, “it was not misdirected since it was reliably gathered that a section of the judiciary was allegedly involved in the evil plot”.
Oguntuase appealed to Onnoghen to do the needful by making the Judiciary apolitical to forestall it from being desecrated by desperate politicians.
Meanwhile, the Ekiti State House of Assembly (EKHA) has described the Abuja group, Coalition for Good Governance and Anti-Corruption, which called on the National Assembly to invoke the doctrine of necessity to effect the impeachment of the Ekiti State Governor, Peter Ayodele Fayose as a group of jesters.
The House of Assembly, which reacted through the Speaker, Pastor Kola Oluwawole said, “if not for their attempt at misleading the public by ascribing to themselves an underserved importance, the House would not have dignified the faceless group and its sponsors with any response, because they are ostensibly chasing shadows.”
The statement read; “For the avoidance of doubts, the Office of the Governor of Ekiti State as well of those of other governors in the country, is established in Part 2, Section 176 (1) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended) for a period of four years herein called the term of office while Section 180 (1) listed all the conditions that can make an occupant to cease to hold the office as a governor.
“Also, Section 189 (1) of the same Constitution listed the conditions under which a state governor can be removed through the House of Assembly of such state. Nowhere was it mentioned that the National Assembly has any role to play in the removal of a governor.
“Also, nowhere was it stated that some drunkards can gather after a binge night out and ask for the removal of a sitting and performing governor with executive powers as conferred by section 176 (2) of the Constitution, using doctrine of necessity.
“Most importantly, the EKHA is saddled with the responsibility of oversight functions, particularly with powers on matters of evidence against any political office holder in Ekiti State inclusive of the governor as enshrined in section 129 of the Nigerian Constitution as amended.
“These functions, we have carried out without fear or favour and with so much vigour in the overall interest of the people of Ekiti State.
“However, in carrying out our duties, nowhere and at no time in Ekiti State will this present Assembly and the Executive be at loggerheads because we remain indivisible, inseparable and closely bounded, sharing the same umbilical cord with the Governor of Ekiti State, Dr Ayodele Fayose.
“Therefore, those masquerading as activists in Abuja and calling for the removal of Governor Fayose are nothing but political jesters.
“Unfortunately they are speaking from Abuja and not from Ekiti, thus they have no jurisdiction to cry more than the bereaved in the first instance about government and governance in Ekiti State.”
“Those behind this faceless Abuja group are therefore informed that their agenda is dead on arrival. It is an impossible mission.
“However, in case they are desperate at seeing the removal of any head of government, there is one at their backyard in Abuja, whose removal Nigerians are already clamouring for, having failed to keep his electoral promises, but instead subjected Nigerians to hunger and deprivation, untoward hardships and tendency to dictatorship and absolutism as well as flagrant disobedience to court orders.
“Lastly, for now and forever, let those behind the Abuja faceless group know that as far as the EKHA and the Ekiti People are concerned; On Fayose We Stand. No Apology,” the speaker added.
It would be recalled that a group of civil society organisations under the umbrella of Coalition for Good Governance and Anti-Corruption had last Tuesday urged the National Assembly to remove Ekiti State Governor, Peter Ayodele Fayose and prosecute him for abuse of office.
The group, which made the call at a press conference in Abuja, noted that the Assembly has 14 days to do the job or face nationwide protest.
National Secretary of the coalition, Audu Joseph, said the group was making its call because of the several allegations of monumental corruption and criminal conduct against the Ekiti State governor.
Joseph noted that the group turned to the National Assembly because the Ekiti State Assembly was compromised and none of its members would institute impeachment proceedings against the governor.
He disclosed that the coalition has 34 civil society organizations backing it, adding that the coalition was ready to mobilize it members and other Nigerians for a massive protest, if Fayose is not removed by the National Assembly within the period it stipulated.
The group’s demand comes just as Fayose’s wife rained curses on the enemies of her husband.
Speaking during the year’s edition of inter-religious thanksgiving service in the state, Mrs Feyisetan Fayose, said it was high time some enemies pretending to be friends were exposed.
She said all the wolves in sheep clothing working against her husband’s administration will be doomed.