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Despite the swearing-in of Speaker of Ekiti State House of Assembly Speaker, Mr Friday Aderemi as acting governor, following the adoption of the report of the seven-man panel constituted by the acting Chief Judge of the state, aides to Dr Ayo Fayose on Monday insisted he remains the legitimate governor of the state.
Despite the swearing-in of Speaker of Ekiti State House of Assembly Speaker, Mr Friday Aderemi as acting governor, following the adoption of the report of the seven-man panel constituted by the acting Chief Judge of the state, aides to Dr Ayo Fayose on Monday insisted he remains the legitimate governor of the state.
According to the state's Commissioner for Information, Barrister Gboyega Oguntuase, Fayose's removal from office and the swearing-in of an acting governor were a breach of the constitution.
Oguntuase told Daily Sun that every step taken so far by the second panel constituted by the acting chief judge were faulty and remained unknown in law.
He said: 'The entire thing is a total breach of the constitution. Fayose is the governor still recognised by the law. The Chief Justice of Nigeria, who is the custodian of judicial authority, has said that the appointment of the acting chief judge was faulty. So everything done by the panel is faulty."
He denied reports that Dr Fayose had fled Ekiti, explaining that the impeached governor is in an undisclosed area in the state, 'praying, in a three-day special retreat, talking to God as a child of God should do at such moment."
Oguntuase said the embattled governor would come out 'when it is all over," stressing that 'there is nothing to run away from."
'The panel recognised by the apex court and chairman of the National Judicial Council (NJC) has absolved him of all allegation. The other panel has been roundly described as illegal, so why should the governor be afraid?" he stated.
While condemning the anxiety over Fayose's whereabouts, Oguntuase asked: 'Why should absence for few hours automatically amount to fleeing? We are not moved. We are waiting to see whether illegality will be enthroned by the powers that be."
In another reaction, Chief Press Secretary to Fayose, Idowu Adelusi, described the impeachment as victory for illegality and a rape on the rule of law as well as introduction of totalitarianism.
'What Fayose has spent three and half years doing, transforming the state through provision of infrastructure, regular payment of workers' salaries and entitlements, reforming the civil service, providing hope for the down-trodden in the state, even the prison and hospital inmates, the widows, will certainly remain a legacy," Adelusi said.
On whether Fayose deserved what he got, he said: 'Man may have passed his judgment, but God's judgment is the final. We are appealing to numerous supporters and admirers of Governor Fayose within and outside the state to remain calm, be law-abiding. Don't take to violence. The battle is of the Lord."