Following tension in the state, the police and other security agencies have increased security presence, with the state police command announcing that it had done all that was necessary to ensure adequate security of life and property before, during and after the judgment.
The state Police Commissioner, Mr Sotonye Wakama, according to the command, had met with the leaders of the political parties involved, saying they had been “mandated to caution their supporters against fomenting trouble before, during and after the judgment.”
The command’s Public Relations Officer, Mr. Victor Babayemi, said “we are monitoring the situation very closely,” adding that “We summoned all the leaders of the political parties on Tuesday, and it was agreed that they will talk to their supporters and party members in view of today’s judgment to ensure that there is peace in the state.”
Babayemi said: “Our intelligence unit had been sent out to gather information from the public. We have also deployed our men to all strategic positions across the state to forestall breakdown of law and order that may arise as a result of the judgment. So, we don’t foresee crisis before, during and after the judgement.”
However, people of the state have been discussing today’s Supreme Court judgment, with some people in Ado Ekiti, the state capital alleging they were warned to stay indoors on Friday (today) as supporters of the various parties had said that they would close down the state.
But in reaction to the tension generated by the impending verdict, Chairman of Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in Ekiti, Chief Jide Awe, assured that his party members would not foment trouble.
Awe said his members did not take laws into their hands, even at a time when situations were more grievous than this, saying the party had “avowed confidence in the judiciary and would not involve the action that would desecrate the temple of justice.”
He expressed the belief that the party would be victorious in the end.
Chairman of the PDP in the state, Mr. Makanjuola Ogundipe, said there was no tension in the party, saying “we are all at peace about the judgment of today.”
Ogundipe in a statement signed by his media aide, Mr. Femi Omolusi, said “PDP is a law-abiding party and will accept the judgment anyhow it comes because the Supreme Court has integrity just as we believe in the Nigerian judiciary.”
The full panel of the apex court presided over by Justice Tanko Mohammed fixed today after parties in the suit adopted their processes.
In his submission, counsel to Oni, J.K Gadzama (SAN) urged the court to set aside the October 15, 2010 judgment of the lower court which sacked Oni on ground of alleged likelihood of bias.
He argued that the suspended President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Ayo Salami who constituted and presided over the panel and also wrote the lead judgment of the Appeal Court that sacked Oni from office had close affinity with Senator Bola Tinubu, the alter ego of Fayemi’s party, the ACN.
He said: “Bias or likelihood of it makes a decision a nullity and is therefore a sufficient ground for the lower court to set aside its own judgment.”
However, in a preliminary objection, Fayemi through his counsel, Olusola Baiyashea, said the Supreme Court did not have the jurisdiction to hear the appeal.
Fayemi submitted that going by the reports of the National Judicial Council (NJC) which investigated the allegation, Salami and other judges of the appellate court which sat over the matter have been exonerated hence the allegation had become irrelevant to the instant case.
He also argued that the reliefs sought by the appellant emanated from the governorship election tribunal which case should terminate at the Court of Appeal.
He submitted that the court has no jurisdiction to entertain the appeal, being an appeal emanating from the decision of the court below in governorship election petition of Ekiti State arising from the governorship election of 2007 to which Section 246 (3) of the 1999 Constitution is applicable.
He also submitted that there was no valid appeal before the court.
Source: http://www.tribune.com.ng/news2013/en/news/item/13248-tension-in-ekiti-as-supreme-court-decides-fayemi,-oni%E2%80%99s-fate-today.html
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