Fayose Seizes Deputy's Phone: Restricts Her Movement, Says ‘We’ll Fall Together'
Posted by admin on 2006/10/9 16:06:05 (1044 reads)



As the Ekiti State Chief Judge, Justice Kayode Bamisile, is set to release the names of the 7-man panel instituted to probe Governor Ayodele Fayose of allegations of gross misconduct and abuse of office, levelled against him by the state’s lawmakers, tomorrow, the embattled governor has reportedly restricted the movement of his deputy, Chief (Mrs.) Abiodun Olujinmi and seized her phones.

P.M.NEWS authoritatively gathered that Fayose seized the phones and restricted Olujinmi’s movement in order to prevent her from interacting with the opposition, who are bent on removing him at all costs. Sources in Ekiti disclosed that immediately Fayose learnt of the plan by the Presidency to make Olujinmi succeed him, he tactically made her to deposit her phones with him and instructed her not to leave the state or hold discussions with anybody on the political crisis rocking the state, without his permission.

Fayose, it was learnt, pooh-poohed the plan by President Olusegun Obasanjo to instal Olujinmi as governor after his impeachment, insisting that if he was removed, the deputy governor would go too. The governor, P.M.News gathered, now ensures that Olujinmi doesn’t leave his presence, to truncate the plan by the opposition to remove him. Fayose is said to be afraid that if he was impeached and Olujinmi was installed governor, she might be forced to reveal some of the atrocities he committed while in office. This, sources said, Fayose was determined to prevent at all costs.

The decision of President Obasanjo, who is regarded as the godfather of the opposition politicians in Ekiti, to have Olujinmi installed as governor, was said not to have gone down well with the 24 legislators spearheading the impeachment of the governor. The lawmakers were said to have argued that the original plan handed over to them by Ekiti elders and the opposition was the removal of Fayose and his deputy from office. In their place, the Speaker was to be made the governor, while the majority leader would become the deputy governor.
But Obasanjo, at a meeting held with the lawmakers and Ekiti stakeholders on Friday, it was gathered, pointed out the constitutional crisis that might arise if both Fayose and his deputy were removed.

The president, P.M.News gathered, told the Ekiti stakeholders who met him in Aso Villa that the Speaker can only govern the state for 90 days, going by the country’s constitution. This, he said, would necessitate the holding of a by-election in January, 2007 to elect a new governor, something INEC might not be favourably disposed to, considering the fact that the nationwide governorship election comes up in April 2007. Obasanjo, sources at the meeting disclosed, appealed to the lawmakers and the opposition to allow Fayose’s deputy succeed him in order to avert further crisis in the state, but the majority of the opposition members appeared unyielding.

This, the sources continued, made the president walk out on them and warned them not to come to the Villa again if they failed to heed his advice. Meanwhile, sources said the president has concluded plans to send a high powered team to Ekiti State to bring the deputy governor to Abuja at all costs to facilitate her being installed as Ekiti governor after Fayose’s impeachment.

Interesting but where is the source to this story?