FRESH PLOT TO SACK GOVERNOR FAYOSE

There are renewed moves to oust Governor of Ekiti State, Mr. Ayo Fayose, before May 29, THISDAY was reliably informed.

The governor who has had a running battle with 19 All Progressives Congress (APC) lawmakers in Ekiti State House of Assembly since he assumed office on October 16, 2014, has been in court to stop moves by them to oust him.

While a federal high court sitting in Abuja had twice in April declined to grant an application seeking to stop the lawmakers from impeaching the governor, another high court in Lagos on May 6, struck out a suit filed by the lawmakers on the impeachment following their decision to withdraw the suit.

While the suit looked like a relief to Fayose, it might be a booby trap for him as persons who understood the game currently playing up at the background, said it was actually meant to clear the coast for his impeachment as the continuous existence of the case in court could stall the impeachment plot. The 19 lawmakers had reportedly signed an impeachment notice against Fayose and consequently asked the Chief Judge of Ekiti State to constitute a panel of inquiry to investigate the allegations of misconduct against him.

The chief judge has not set up the panel probably because the matter has been sub-judice and moreso that the plotters did not pass the resolution in an authorised place.

However, a reliable source told THISDAY that Speaker of the House, Dr. Adewale Omirin, who along with his 18 colleagues had been denied access to the House of Assembly by security forces with the intention to foil the impeachment plot was said to have held a meeting with a senator from Ekiti State in the National Assembly recently over the plot to oust Fayose.

According to the source, a former minister from Ekiti State who is close to a former president sent the senator to the former president to discuss the impeachment move with him. He disclosed further that after meeting with the former president, the latter asked him to send the 19 APC lawmakers to him.

At the scheduled meeting with the lawmakers by the former president, a top security agent was invited with the intention to co-opt him into the plan with the overall intention to seek his assistance to dislodge the security agents who barricade the road leading to the House of Assembly so that the lawmakers can gain access to the assembly chamber.

The top security agent was said to have told the meeting that he was not responsible for the deployment of security forces to the surroundings of Ekiti State House of Assembly.

The source also said the security big-wig was then asked how he would dislodge the security agents and simultaneously pave way for the return of the aggrieved lawmakers.

He was said to have pledged commitment to the cause but only requested that the impeachment move be reserved towards the end of the tenure of current political office holders.

The top security source was said to have said it would be easier to get it done when it would be few days to May 29 as it was said to have been concluded that a panel of enquiry that would be constituted could finish its assignment within two days.

Once the panel concludes its work and recommends Fayose’s impeachment, THISDAY was told, he would be gone in a matter of hours as the lawmakers who would be adequately protected, would immediately pronounce him impeached.

It was also learnt that another top security agent from another security outfit who could make the job easier was said to have also been contacted and co-opted into the arrangement after willingly pledging his loyalty to the cause.

Hear the source: “A former minister from Ekiti State sent a senator to a former president. When he met him, the former president asked the 19 lawmakers to see him and they went. A top security personnel was invited to the meeting and they asked him what his men were doing at the Ekiti State House of Assembly.

“He told them he just saw it that way that he didn’t deploy them. They also contacted another top security personnel and both of them have keyed into the project. The first personnel told them to reserve the move till the last week of this tenure since it was realised that within two days after constituting the investigative panel, they would finish the work and recommend him for impeachment. I can tell you that he will be removed before May 29,” the source said.

The forces which seek to get rid of Fayose consider him a liability to the state that will be too risky to endure for four years. His ordeal began shortly after his election on June 21, 2014, when he was dragged to court over alleged ineligibility to stand for the election having been impeached in October 2006 during his first coming.

Fearing that he might be disqualified from taking oath of office, his supporters stormed the court and allegedly beat up the judge, resulting in the closure of Ekiti courts for two weeks.

His image crisis worsened when he assumed office and sponsored the defection of seven APC lawmakers who subsequently impeached the speaker, Omirin, who is leading a group of 19 including himself.

Since then, the 19 lawmakers have had to take cover outside Ekiti State over fears of insecurity. The situation grew worse when the lawmakers who were candidates for April 28, 2015 House of Assembly elections could not campaign for their re-elections. This gave the ruling Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) the opportunity to clear 25 of 26 seats in the House of Assembly.