The Ekiti State
government will do everything possible to ensure that the 2011 general
election is not rigged by “desperate politicians,” the state governor,
Kayode Fayemi, has declared.
He also warned
politicians planning to throw the state into chaos at the 2011 polls to
shelve the plan or face the law. The governor stated this during his
statewide tour of the 16 local government areas of the state which
ended with visits to Irepodun/Ifelodun, Ekiti Southwest and Ado Local
Government Areas on Friday.
He also used the
tour to express gratitude to the people of the state for their
unflinching support while the struggle to reclaim his popular mandate
lasted promising that his administration and the ruling Action Congress
of Nigeria (ACN) will not disappoint them.
The governor said
the peace of the state is of paramount importance to him promising to
sustain the peace to engender overall development of the state.
He expressed
satisfaction with the turnout of voters in the last voter registration
exercise and advised the people of the state to be vigilant to prevent
a repeat of the fraud that marred the 2007 governorship election and
the 2009 governorship rerun election in the state.
“In the coming
elections, nobody can steal your votes, and it is our desire that peace
should reign in the state before, during and after the elections but
whoever that is planning to foment trouble in the state will find
himself to blame,” he said.
“I have told the
candidates of my party to go and sell themselves to the electorate
because I and my party would not subscribe to any plan to rig the
election because your votes must count in the coming election. The
electorate is free to vote for the candidates or parties of their
choice whether LP, PDP or ACN, whoever they want to elect, they are
free to elect candidates or parties of their choice and their votes
must count.
Judicial review
A former Governor
of Ekiti State, Olusegun Oni has, however challenged Mr Fayemi to
surrender what he called “the black-market judgment he purchased from
the Justice Isa Ayo Salami-led Appeal Court” to a Judicial Review.
Mr Oni accused the
governor of colluding with the President of the Appeal Court, Mr Salami
to subvert justice in the Appeal Court ruling in the state’s
gubernatorial election in the state and have also submitted a petition
containing analysis of phone calls between Mr Fayemi’s party and
associates of Mr Salami’s, claiming they are related to the distortion
of justice.
Mr Oni’s Media Aide, Wale Ojo-Lanre, said his boss is not afraid to
face any competent panel of jurists for a review of all elections held
in Ekiti State between 2007 and 2010 and court judgments arising from
them.
