By GBENGA ARIYIBI

ADO EKITI — The former Governor  of Ekiti State, Mr. Ayo Fayose, has  asked the Federal High Court sitting in Ado Ekiti to dismiss the charges brought against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on the ground that the case was legally offensive.

When the matter came for hearing, yesterday, Fayose’s counsel, Mr. Owoseni Ajayi, in his application before Justice Adamu Hobon, said it was against the rule of criminal code which has spelt out that an offence committed must be established and specific before a criminal suit is instituted against a person.

‘’This particular suit is legally offensive to criminal procedure,” he said.

File: Former Ekiti State Governor, Mr. Ayo Fayose, outside the Federal High Court, Ado-Ekiti.

The legal practitioner argued that the criminal code states that a criminal  charge brought against anyone must be specific in particulars, claiming that the “matter in this case is not specific and it is nebulous.”

Based on this seeming flaw, he said  he had made an application to the court to quash the charges because “it would amount to a waste of the precious time of the court since the charges are legally offensive and would leave the court at large.”

Countering this application, counsel to the EFCC, Mr. Adebisi Adeyemi said it had filed a counter-affidavit against the application on the ground that it has established  a prima facie case against the accused.

According to him: “The application  was lacking in merit and a ploy to frustrate the case and waste the precious time of the court.”

He therefore urged  the court to dismiss the application.

Justice Adamu Hobon, however,  fixed the  ruling on the applications for  November 7

Meantime, the former governor has disowned posters in Ado Ekiti, the state capital  and other parts of the state, that say he has dropped his governorship ambition.

A statement from the office of  the Director General of Ayo Fayose Campaign Organisation, AFCO, Mr. Owoseni Ajayi,  attributed the posters to the political opponents of the former governor   who, according to him, are afraid of defeat and trying to use the posters to  deceive the Ekiti people who are eagerly waiting for Fayose as their  governor next year.