Court refuses to stop Fayose’s impeachment

Ekiti State Governor Ayodele Fayose and his deputy, Kolapo Olusola, have raced to a Federal High Court in Abuja to stop the 19 All Progressives Congress members of the state House of Assembly from impeaching them.

Fayose and Olusola, in the ex parte application, asked for an interim order stopping the impeachment notice served on them and the moves to remove them from office.

Rather than granting the prayers for interim injunction, Justice Mohammed ordered the defendants in the suit, including the Speaker of the House, Adewale Omirin, and the Chief Judge of the state, Justice Ayodeji Daramola, to appear in his court on April 16.

They are to show cause why the order of interim injunctions being sought by the plaintiffs should not be granted.

Apart from Omirin and Daramola, the other defendants in the suit are the Inspector-General of Police, Suleiman Abba, and the Independent National Electoral Commission.

The plaintiffs, apart from Fayose and Olusola, are the House of Assembly and Olugbemi Dele, who was appointed by seven Peoples Democratic Party lawmakers as their speaker.

The move by the APC lawmakers to sack Fayose and Olusola had led to mayhem in parts of the state on Monday and Tuesday.

During protests on Tuesday by Fayose supporters, a man, Modupe Olaiya, was shot dead in Efon Alaaye. Olaiya’s death became a subject of controversy with Fayose accusing the APC lawmakers being culpable in a in a petition he sent to the IG.

Meanwhile, INEC has said that there is no plan to postpone Saturday’s election in Ekiti State despite the crisis rocking there. It said the crisis had nothing to do with the commission’s preparation for the election.

...Punch