By Ikechukwu Nnochiri & Dirisu Yakubu

A High Court of the Federal Capital Territory sitting at Bwari,  yesterday, dismissed the suit that sought to disqualify the former Minister of Mines and Solid Minerals, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, from participating in the  July 14 governorship election in Ekiti State.

The court, in a judgment delivered by Justice Othman Musa, said there was no evidence that Fayemi was validly indicted by the Judicial Commission of Inquiry that Governor Ayodele Fayose constituted to probe his alleged involvement in illegal diversion of funds belonging to the state.

Justice Musa held that affidavit evidence before the court indicated that Fayemi was not accorded fair-hearing by the Justice Silas Bamidele Oyewole-led eight-man panel of Inquiry that eventually indicted him over alleged embezzlement and contract fraud.

The court held that the said indictment had no force of law, adding that the panel lacked the vires to bar Fayemi from contesting or holding public office for a period of 10 years.

The judge noted that Section 182(1)(i) of the Constitution, on which the suit was based, was no longer in existence having been deleted in 2011 by the National Assembly through the first alteration of the 1999 Constitution.

He stressed that citizens could only be indicted by a court of law after fair trial, saying there was no evidence that Fayemi was invited as an accused person to defend corruption charges that were levelled against him before the panel.

The court held that Fayemi was merely invited as a witness to assist the panel with information, noting that after the panel dismissed Fayemi’s objection to the summon,  he was not re-invited to appear as an accused person.

It held that Fayemi was not served with necessary processes that would have enabled him to defend himself. Consequently, Justice Musa dismissed the suit which African People’s Party, APP, filed to challenge Fayemi’s eligibility to contest the impending governorship poll in Ekiti State. He equally quashed the white paper that Ekiti State Commission of Inquiry issued against Fayemi. Other Defendants in the suit marked FCT/HC/BW/CV/57/2018, were the All Progressives Congress, APC, and the Ekiti State Government.

While Fayemi and APC filed joint objection to challenge the competence of the suit, Ekiti State government was not represented in the matter.

APC chieftain asks court to disqualify Fayemi

Less than two weeks to the  Ekiti State governorship election, a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Oladimeji Olakunle Olatunji, has approached A federal High Court, Abuja to disqualify its governorship candidate, John Kayode Fayemi from contesting election scheduled for July 14.

The plaintiff, in a Suite No:  FHC/ABJ/05/693/18 and dated July 2, 2018, with John Kayode Fayemi, the APC, and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), as 1st, 2nd and 3rd  Defendants respectively, is seeking an order disqualifying the 1st defendant from contesting the governorship election, for allegedly submitting false information to the 2nd and 3rd Defendants as it relates to his non-resignation from the public service of the Federal Government of Nigeria. In a sworn affidavit, Olakunle argued that Fayemi, after serving as the Governor of Ekiti State and after handing over to his successor, was accused of financial impropriety and embezzlement of public funds, as a result of which the Ekiti State Government set up a Judicial Commission of Inquiry headed by a retired Chief Judge of the State, Hon. Justice Silas Bamidele Oyewole, which after its sittings, deliberations and considerations of issues and evidence before it, found him Fayemi guilty of embezzlement and misapplication of public funds, indicted him and banned the 1st Defendant from occupying any public office for ten (10) years, apart from recommending him for criminal prosecution.