(UPDATED) APC legislators direct CJ to raise Fayose’s impeachment panel

The 19 All Progressives Congress lawmakers of the Ekiti State House of Assembly have written the State Chief Judge‎, Justice Ayodeji Daramola, to set up a panel to investigate allegations raised in the impeachment notice against Governor Ayodele Fayose. The seven-man panel to be constituted by the Chief Judge within seven days of receipt of the letter i‎s to investigate Fayose and his Deputy, Dr. Oluosla Kolapo, over allegations of impunity, violence, stalking and other constitutional breaches. The lawmakers reached the resolution at a special sitting presided over by the embattled Speaker, Dr. Adewale Omirin, at M‎ary Hills Boys High School, Ado Ekiti, on Thursday. 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. But the Chief Registrar of the Ekiti State High Court, Mr. Obafemi Fasanmi, said he was not aware of the letter directing the CJ to raise a panel to probe the governor and his deputy. Journalists that visited the school were also told by students that they saw no strange faces in their school. According to a statement by Omirin’s media aide, Mr. Wole Olujobi, the lawmakers in a unanimous vote supported the motion‎ directing the chief judge to set up the panel. Majority Leader, Churchill Adedipe, Irepodun/Ifelodun Constituency one, explained that the sitting ought to have taken place in the hallowed chamber on April 7, 2015‎ but members were waylaid by thugs who mounted roadblock and threatened their lives with dangerous weapons. Due to the violence, he said, the lawmakers had to jettison the plan to go to the Assembly. “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 two. “The House adjourned to the next legislative day,” the statement said. However, Fayose has argued that no sitting of Ekiti 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 of the House is taking place in the House of Assembly. “Kindly disregard information being circulated by the APC that their lawmakers are sitting somewhere in Ado Ekiti. “Of course, members of the House of Assembly can gather anywhere in the world to have social or political meetings. “Parliamentary business is done in the hallowed chamber of the House of Assembly. “Besides, Dr Adewale Omirin, who claimed to be the Speaker of the Ekiti State House of Assembly was impeached on November 20, 2014 and he is in court, challenging his impeachment.” Meanwhile, the Ekiti Justice Forum has urged Fayose to respond to the impeachment notice served on him by the lawmakers with maturity and all sense of responsibility instead of resorting to violence.