Ekiti APC lawmakers to CJ: Raise panel to probe Fayose

The 19 All Progressives Congress members of the Ekiti State House of Assembly have written to the state Chief Judge, Justice Ayodeji Daramola, asking him to set up a panel to investigate the allegations contained in their impeachment notice to Governor Ayodele Fayose. The seven-member panel which should be constituted within seven days of the receipt of the letter is to investigate allegations of impunity, violence, stalking and other constitutional breaches the lawmakers levelled against Fayose and his deputy, Kolapo Olusola. The legislators reached the resolution at a special sitting presided over by their Speaker, Adewale Omirin, at the Mary Hills Boys’ High School, Ado Ekiti. According to a statement by Omirin’s media aide, Wole Olujobi, the lawmakers, in a unanimous vote, supported the motion directing the chief judge to set up the panel. The Majority Leader, Churchill Adedipe, who explained on Thursday that the sitting ought to have taken place in the hallowed chamber on April 7, 2015, said they were waylaid by political thugs who mounted roadblocks and threatened their lives. Due to the violence, he said, they jettisoned the plan to go to the assembly. He said, “Relying on Section 188 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended), Adedipe moved the motion empowering the CJ to set up the panel. “His motion was seconded by the Deputy Speaker, Adetunji Orisalade, representing Ido/Osi Constituency II. “The Assembly adjourned to the next legislative day.” The lawmakers relied on Section 101 of the 1999 Constitution as amended which empowers the Assembly to regulate its sittings, including sitting in a public building within the state capital if the lives of members are not safe. The CJ could not be reached by our correspondent in the state but the Chief Registrar of the state High Court, Obafemi Fasanmi, said he was not aware of the lawmakers’ letter. Journalists, who visited the school, were told by students that they saw no strange faces in their school on Thursday. However, Fayose has argued that no sitting of the assembly took place on Thursday as claimed by the APC lawmakers. The governor, in a statement by his Special Assistant on Public Communications and New Media, Lere Olayinka, said, “The State House of Assembly is on recess. No sitting took place in the House of Assembly. “Kindly disregard information being circulated by the APC that their lawmakers are sitting somewhere in Ado Ekiti.