The Governor of Ekiti State, Ayodele Fayose, urged President Muhammadu Buhari to make the war against corruption total by being bold enough to probe the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo and others about how they spent their security votes.
Accusing the president of being selective in the fight against corruption, he said, “I support the fight against corruption but it has to be total. Buhari must be bold enough to probe how ex-presidents Obasanjo, Babangida and others spent their security votes.
“All the Presidents that had come in Nigeria spent their security votes in the same pattern. So, Buhari must open the book and come out with facts.”
Fayose also urged his colleagues to conduct elections in the local governments, saying the caretaker committee was an aberration.
Meanwhile, an Ekiti State High Court on Monday dismissed the suit filed by the All Progressives Congress against the composition of the Ekiti State Independent Electoral Commission.
Justice Dele Omotoso, who held that the opposition party in the state failed to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt, also refused to stop the local governments election slated for this Saturday.
The APC had alleged that members of the electoral body constituted by Fayose were card-carrying members of the Peoples Democratic Party, so could not conduct a free and fair election.
Listed as PDP members by the APC are the SIEC Chairman, Justice Kayode Bamisile (retd), Victoria Olufunke Adeyera, Ganiyu Bello, Mojisola Florence Bankole, Rufus Sunday Olaiya and Olajide Vincent Adeyeye.
The APC in a statement by its state Publicity Secretary, Taiwo Olatubosun, has however vowed to challenge the judgment at the Court of Appeal.
The party contended that the judgment “cannot stand the judicial efficiency and legal scrutiny of the appellate court.
“We will not allow the charade called SIEC to stand. We maintain that the composition of Ekiti SIEC did not follow the due process and provision of the law.”
Speaking at the PDP’s secretariat on Monday while presenting party flags to chairmanship and councilorship candidates of the party, Fayose described the local governments as the closest to the people.
“Not every person can be opportune to see the governor, but many people can see the Chairman of a local government. So, I want to appeal to my colleague governors to move away from antidemocratic way. A governor is elected to do what is right and that we must do.
“But in the Local Government polls in Ekiti, we won’t conduct inconclusive elections. I appeal to our people to come out en masse and vote. APC decided to boycott the election because they know we will give them 16-0 in the chairmanship and 177-0 in the councilorship,” he said.
The governor said his intention to conduct the Local Government elections on December 19 was borne out of his desire to ensure that Ekiti moved away from the era of anti-democratic and pseudo-democratic tendencies.
