THE All Progressives Congress
(APC) has finally gone to the election petitions tribunal to challenge the June
21 governorship election in Ekiti State, 21 days after the Independent National
Electoral Commission (INEC) conducted the election won by Mr Ayodele Fayose of
the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Interim
chairman of the APC in the state, Chief Jide Awe, told newsmen in Ado Ekiti, on
Sunday, that his party had filed a petition, challenging the election before
the tribunal sitting in Ado Ekiti.
Awe said he submitted the
petition on behalf of the party to the tribunal on Saturday, “since the law allows
the tribunal to also operate at weekends.”
According to him, the petition
sought the assistance of the tribunal to “unravel the hidden facts surrounding
the election,” saying the poll was more of “a mechanical exercise than
conventional casting of votes.”
The Ekiti APC chairman said: “The
results of the election were embrrassing to us as a party and we hold the view
that there is no smoke without fire.”
He explained that details of the
petition were centred round alleged manipulation of the election; its “undue
militarisation”; alleged impeachment of the PDP candidate, as well as the
Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) cases hanging on the
governor-elect.
He claimed that Fayose was not
qualified in the first place to partake in the election exercise, aside the
process of the poll’s conduct, which he claimed was faulty.
He said the party did not want to
take laws into its hands or resort to self-help, hence, its decision to toe
constitutional and peaceful line of seeking redress in the open court.
Reacting, chairman of the Peoples
Democratic Party (PDP) in the state, Mr Makanjuola Ogundipe, has said “the APC
is going there to chase shadows.”
Ogundipe said on Sunday, in
a telephone interview with the Nigerian Tribune, that he was not surprised,
because “I knew that the APC would look for what to do to and by all means too,
to remain in the news, following their crushing at the election.
“It would be interesting to see
what they have this time against an election that has been the talk of the entire
world in terms of credibility, fairness, organisation and security. Even
the people of the state, who voted massively for the candidate of our party, Mr
Fayose, would laugh at the mockery the APC is out to make of itself at the
tribunal.
“It is either its natural
mischief or usual deliberate deception of the people that has made it to act in
feigned ignorance of extant court judgements on the issues it took to the
tribunal to challenge the election.
“If not for routine academic
exercise or a ploy to remain in the news for the sake of its propagandist
ideals, we wonder why the APC has been the only component of the election that
has seen or heard what all the other stakeholders in the entire process,
including the good people of Ekiti State, have not seen or heard, but we are
ready for its mischief and deceit.”
Ogundipe said “the PDP is not in
the least bothered by their ranting and will meet at the tribunal,” and added
that “as usual, the PDP had decided to chase shadows like it did when it was
defeated in Ondo and Anambra states.”
He charged the people of the
state and members and supporters of PDP in the state “ not to panic or worry,
as they await the smooth takeover of government from the APC government they
themselves have discredited.”
Reacting to the position of his
party’s candidate in the election, Governor Kayode Fayemi, who had promptly
accepted defeat and congratulated Mr Fayose, who was declared winner by the
INEC, Awe explained that the party’s action was not at variance with Dr
Fayemi’s action.
He said: “The governor does not
own the party. It is the party that owns the governor and so, the party can
decide for him. You will observe that Dr Fayemi’s name was not on the ballot
papers. What was contained on it was name of the party and its logo. So, the
issue is beyond the governor.”
The Ekiti APC chairman added:
“Let it be known to you that our candidate, Dr Fayemi, only conceded victory to
guarantee continued peace prevalent in the state at the time, as well as allow
the siege laid on the state by the military to cease.
“You can see that as soon as he
announced that he had accepted defeat, the soldiers immediately vacated the
state.”
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