Posted by By YINKA FABOWALE and RAZAQ BAMIDELE on
Impeached Governor of Ekiti State, Ayo Fayose, Tuesday refuted reports that he was on the run and might have fled the country, saying his withdrawal from the public glare was for the safety of his life and to avert breakdown of law and order in the state.
Impeached Governor of Ekiti State, Ayo Fayose, Tuesday refuted reports that he was on the run and might have fled the country, saying his withdrawal from the public glare was for the safety of his life and to avert breakdown of law and order in the state.
Speaking to Daily Sun on phone from his hide-out, Fayose declared that he remained the governor of the state, even as he sued for President Olusegun Obasanjo's intervention to restore him to office.
Fayose and his deputy, Mrs Abiodun Olujimi were Monday removed from office by the state House of Assembly after deliberations on the report of a controversial seven-man panel that indicted them of financial misdeeds and abuse of office.
The Speaker of the Assembly, Chief Friday Aderemi, was immediately sworn-in as acting governor.
But the former governor, whose whereabouts had been a subject of speculations since Sunday, said he was in Ado-Ekiti, the state capital, but in hiding because of perceived threat to his life. "I am in Ado-Ekiti. I can never run away. I went into hiding because of the armoured tanks, and 15 units of mobile police I saw deployed into town, afterall, I can only fight if I'm alive."
Fayose maintained that he was still governor of Ekiti State, noting: "The purported impeachment was a coup against me by the House. Where is justice, when the House had been indicted of illegality and went into unconstitutionality, using an illegal acting Chief Judge to appoint an acting governor?"
According to Fayose, who said he left N5.5 billion in the state's treasury, the legislators had behaved "like robbers who took the owner and tenants by storm."
He appealed to President Obasanjo for a redress of "this unconstitutionality and rape of democracy."
"I want Mr President in his kindness to restore me. He's the only one who can do it… He did it in Sao Tome and Principe, let him do it for me," Fayose pleaded with passion.
He saluted the steadfastness and courage of his deputy, Mrs Abiodun Olujimi, who has already gone to court to challenge the exercise, while also calling on Aderemi to resign honourably.
Fayose sued for calm from his supporters, assuring them he was hale and hearty and urging them to disregard rumours that he was on the run. He stressed: "I am not prepared to run away. There is absolutely no reason to. My wife too is in Ibadan praying. God will surely vindicate me."
Also speaking Tuesday, the state Information Commissioner, Mr Gboyega Oguntuase, said the fact that his boss left N5.5 billion in the state's coffers negated the charges of mismanagement or financial malpractice against him. "The value of what he did for Ekiti can best be understood when you note that he met almost N5 billion debt, local government workers were owed salary arrears of 13 months, teachers two months arrears, civil servants same while leave bonuses and running grants were unavailable.
"Now, the N5 billion indebtedness has been liquidated, he stabilised salary, and leave bonuses were paid. Today, Ekiti is not owing any bank within or outside the country," Oguntuase said.
The commissioner refuted the story that Fayose was arrested at Idi-Iroko, a border town between Nigeria and Benin Republic, describing it as absolutely false.
He regretted that the Federal Government remained aloof at the consistent illegalities that permeated the impeachment process, and then said: "It is not too late to reverse the situation. This will help the Nigeria project which President Obasanjo is fully committed to."
"The Chief Press Secretary, (CPS) to the impeached Governor, Mr Idowu Adelusi, apparently referring to the Justice Minister, Justice Bayo Ojo's reaction to developments in the state expressed happiness over the Federal Government's condemnation of "the mockery of the Nigerian Constitution in the state," urging it therefore to redress the "illegality."
Adelusi, who made this call in a press release argued that "with the Federal Government's pronouncement, Fayose is still the governor of Ekiti State." He accused the opposition of levelling false allegations against him for their selfish interest.
The spokesman described as nauseating the way people believed that Fayose was corrupt "based on lies they were being fed with."
"All these allegations of corruption against Fayose were political. Fayose did not resign because he was not guilty of any of the charges. What the enemies of Fayose want was for him not to go for second term because they know that would be the end of their political career," Adelusi declared.