The Governor of Ekiti, Ayodele Fayose, has said the imminent defeat of President Muhammadu Buhari in a free and fair election in 2019 is the major reason the All Progressives Congress-led Federal Government is harassing and intimidating his aides and associates

Background:

Less than two hours after the governor officially declared his intention to run for President in 2019, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) arrested the Commissioner for Finance and the Accountant General of the state.

Highlights:

• He said the blunt truth he told Nigerians during his declaration of interest that Buhari and the APC had nothing good to offer Nigeria has pierced the conscience of APC leaders and given them wounded heart.
• He, however, said he won’t be intimidated into abandoning a divine project of rescuing the country from maladministration.
• Fayose described the arrest of two officials of the state by agents of the EFCC as the height of impunity, as a competent court of jurisdiction had ordered against such action.
• The governor said the action of the EFCC was in flagrant disobedience to the orders of Justice Taiwo. O. Taiwo of the Federal High Court, Ado-Ekiti in the case of the Attorney General of Ekiti State versus EFCC, IGP and 16 others granted on November 7, 2016.
• The governor added that the agency’s action showed desperation and political partisanship, as it had earlier petitioned against Justice Taiwo asking that the case is transferred to Akure, Ondo State.
• The latest action by the EFCC is therefore premeditated, malicious, politically motivated, contemptuous and unconstitutional in all ramifications. It is another clear and undisguised evidence of gangsterism by an agency that derives its power from the constitution but uses it for the political vendetta against the opposition.
• We must warn that no harm must come the way of the illegally detained Ekiti State Government officials, who have health issues which they will be hampered to manage effectively in EFCC’s crushing detention environment.
• Not obeying court orders is not the hallmark of democracy, but a virtue of anti-democratic agents. Colonel Dasuki Sambo, former National Security Adviser is still being held despite numerous court orders to the contrary. Ibrahim el-Zakyzaky has been locked up unduly for months, this is not the democracy we fought to enthrone in Nigeria, he said.
• My ambition to contest the presidential election in 2019 is God’s project and no human effort can thwart it. Democracy allows for people to aspire to occupy public offices and I have not breached any law doing that. Those who think they can get to me by harassing my aides and supporters would soon hit a dead end, he noted.

Omoleye Omoruyi

Omoleye Omoruyi… an apprentice web/game developer, novelist, sensitive to happenings in the world. Meet him @Lord_rickie on Twitter/Instagram