Following the validation of the election of Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose in the June 21 governorship election by the Appeal Court the All Progressives Congress (APC), said it would proceed to the Supreme Court to contest the judgment.
The party declared that the law will take its course in the final determination of the matter at the apex Court.
However, the state chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has raised alarm over the suspected alliance between the Appeal Court judges and the All Progressives Congress (APC) over much emphasis laid on the use of the military during the last governorship election in Ekiti State.
The party’s Scribe in Ekiti, Dr. Tope Aluko, who made this assertion in a statement in Ado Ekiti, said that the appeal panel deliberately dissipated much energy on the use of military during the election in manner that aroused the suspicion of the party.
The appellate Court led by Justice Abdul Aboki dismissed the suit filed by APC against Fayose’s victory, saying the party failed to prove beyond reasonable doubt that the poll was manipulated as claimed in the petition.
The APC’s State Publicity Secretary, Hon. Taiwo Olatubosun, said in a statement that though the court ruled in Fayose’s favour, it was gratifying that judicial declaration was given to APC’s complaint on illegal deployment of troops to harass and intimidate the opposition during the election.
Olatunbosun added that the party also succeeded in proving that Fayose was legally impeached in 2006 as resolved by the Appeal Court in its judgment.
He stressed, however, that the party would appeal the judgment at the Supreme Court, as there were other issues that should have been addressed by the judgment.
“The judgment has vindicated us in our complaint that it is illegal for the ruling party to deploy troops to intimidate the opponents during elections to influence victory for its candidates because this is a clear infringement on the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria on the use of the military.
“The recent audio leak about how the election was rigged by PDP chieftains, including the present beneficiary who used the army to terrorise innocent Ekiti citizens, has further lent credence to our petition that the election was neither free nor fair.
“We are also vindicated that Fayose was legally impeached in 2006. As observed in the judgment, it is now left for the National Assembly to look into the nation’s laws whether it is right and lawful to allow a man that was impeached over gross misconduct, public funds embezzlement and violation of the constitution to re-contest the position he had earlier lost over such constitutional breaches,” Olatubosun said.
He added, however, that other issues that were not addressed by the Appeal Court in the judgment would be trashed out at the Supreme Court.
Olatunbosun urged members to be law-abiding and wait till the party employed all constitutional means to get justice in the matter.
According to the PDP: “To us they have unguarded interest in the area where the use of military to check abuse of the election was discarded by the lower tribunal, it is obvious that they have been compromised for dissipating energy on an issue that has been dismissed by the lower tribunal.”
The PDP scribe noted that during the governorship elections in Edo, Ondo, Anambra and Osun states this same military was maximally used during and after the elections, and nobody raised any question because the states were won by other parties.
“The APC didn’t go to court then to challenge the use of military because it favoured it and no judge either at the lower or upper tribunals have ever raised eyebrows like the one being suspiciously raised by these Justices that ruled on the APC petition against Governor Ayo Fayose on Monday.
“It has become very glaring that the APC as a party is working out an unholy agenda with the judiciary again as we approach the forthcoming election while some of these judges are believed to be working for them in a conspiracy not to make use of military in the future election for their rigging plan to sail through.”