Fayose Was Not Constitutionally Qualified To Contest – Lawyer

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A Nigerian lawyer, Mr Tunji Abayomi, on Monday said the governor-elect of Ekiti State, Mr Ayo Fayose, was not constitutionally qualified to contest the Ekiti State governorship election, citing Section 182 of the 1999 Constitution, saying that “if you have been convicted, either for dishonesty or breach of code of conduct, ten years before you run for office, you are disqualified from running for office.

“He was actually disqualified by a legislative tribunal”, he said, while speaking on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily.

He further noted that the “process of trying him (Fayose) was going on by EFCC”, adding that “his intervention amounts to an impediment to due administration of justice because once he becomes governor, he has immunity from prosecution”.

He however noted that nobody took Mr Fayose’s “case up when it mattered. He was not convicted and was later presented as an ‘electable’ candidate by the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) and the people exercised their organic sovereign right to constitute leadership over themselves by election”.

He maintained that “things are done properly only if they are done at the right time”, adding that “you should have done what you ought to do when you ought to”.

He said the EFCC should have instituted a case against Mr Fayose as soon as he made his intention to run for office, explaining further that “the whole process of presenting him as a candidate of the PDP was concluded before they went to court”.

He also blamed residents of the state for not going to the PDP and INEC to challenge the candidacy of Mr Fayose, insisting that “as at today, he can still be prosecuted because he is not yet a governor”.

“Once he takes the oath of office, you cannot prosecute him, you cannot issue a summon, his holistically immune from judicial criminal process,” he said.

He further expressed shock at what transpired during the inaugural sitting of Ekiti State election petition tribunal in Ado Ekiti as the meeting was invaded by some thugs, who beat up a judge, Justice John Adeyeye. He said: “thats probably the first time the judiciary in this country will appear to be threatened. It is due to lack of knowledge, because a court will deal with any case that is brought to it, even if it is stupid”.

He said there was no basis for the allegations that the judge presiding over the tribunal was an interested party in the case, maintaining that “the judge decided that he had jurisdiction”, insisting that “a court has the power to decide whether it has jurisdiction or it doesn’t by law”.

“When you are accusing a judge of interest, you  have to be sure of it,”he warned.

“It is true in our country (Nigeria), the nation is going through a period of disorder in terms of corruption but it is also true that there are some judges who do their job fairly and to the best of their abilities.”

He however noted that there is a tendency to presume based on general thinking that if a judge takes a decision against you, especially in matters of political nature, it must be that the judge is biased.

Mr Abayomi’s comments are coming days after the Ekiti State Governor, Mr Kayode Fayemi, declared a 7:00pm to 7:00am curfew in the state after thugs took to the streets burning houses and looting shops a day after the tribunal sitting was disrupted by thugs.

The violence followed the killing of a former Ekiti State chairman of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), Omolafe Aderiye, who was killed in his office in Ijigbo area of the state capital, Ado-Ekiti.

Reports said Mr Aderiye was shot at close range in his office.

He is reported to have died before medical attention could get to him.

The former NURTW chairman was believed to be a staunch supporter of the governor-elect, Mr Ayo Fayose and took active part in his campaign coordination.