| EKITI STATE DEPUTY GOVERNOR REMOVED - Culled from Guardian News Paper - 28/09/05  Ekiti State Deputy Governor, Mr. Abiodun Aluko, was yesterday impeached by the House of Assembly over alleged misconduct. The removal followed the consideration of the report of the panel of investigation set up by Chief Judge Omoleye Oyebisi, which found Aluko guilty of three of the 16 allegations.
The charges included: 1. that the deputy governor had been caught in his quest to cause division, apathy and disunity among members of the Assembly by organising some members and asking them to recruit others to support him against constituted authority; 2. that Aluko accused the legislators of receiving bribe of N2 million each from Governor Ayodele Fayose before the national executive of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to impeach him, which has brought the integrity of the legislators to disrepute; 3. that Aluko had severally stated that he was prepared to pull down the government of Ekiti should his position be threatened. The Assembly received the report officially yesterday morning from the chairman of the panel, Mr. Kayode Ogundana, who claimed that it ended its proceedings very late on Monday night amid protest from the deputy governor's counsel, Mr. Babatunde Osilaja, that he was yet to conclude his defence. Osilaja, who claimed to have 30 witnesses including Aluko, expressed "disappointment that the panel was in a hurry against the rule of natural justice to nail Aluko at all costs despite overwhelming evidences that Aluko was innocent of the allegations levelled against him." However, at the sitting of the House yesterday evening, the Speaker, Chief Friday Aderemi, ordered that the gallery be cleared for an executive meeting of the lawmakers. Five minutes later, he invited journalists into the House where he announced that the report had been debated upon and directed the Majority Leader, Mr. Kayode Babade, to move the motion for adoption. Babade is from the same constituency as Aluko and was the major witness against him at the panel. After adoption of the report, Babade moved the motion for removal of Aluko as the deputy governor. The motion was supported by Mr. Sunday Eyeowa (Ijero PDP). The Speaker later called for the distribution of the decision slip that was filled by the lawmakers. He thereafter announced the result which showed that 22 legislators voted for Aluko's removal while two were against and one abstained. Aderemi, who announced the conclusion of the impeachment process, blamed Aluko for his travails, saying the former deputy governor was not loyal to his boss. He claimed that the Assembly had intervened in the disagreement between them in the past but Aluko refused to co-operate with his boss to ensure that the state government continued to meet the peoples' needs. In his reaction, Aluko said he would challenge his removal in court, adding that part of his grouse was that the membership of the panel that investigated the charges against him was not properly constituted. He also alleged that no notice of impeachment was served on him. The former deputy governor had expressed his readiness to abide by the assembly's decision, but Osilaja said the matter would be contested in the regular court. Addressing a press conference, Aluko said the whole impeachment process was a charade as the panel members were in league with Governor Fayose and the House of Assembly to get him out of office at all costs. He said that not only was he not allowed to give evidence, about 27 other witnesses, including Lagos lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana and a journalist, Mr. Femi Ojudu, were shut out of the panel's proceedings. According to him, after two of his witnesses had given evidence and found out that the evidence was revealing a lot of things about alleged financial malpractices going on in the administration of the state, the panel members feared that if he and other notable indigenes were allowed to testify, the state government and its officials would be brought into disrepute. He maintained that the evidence given by his witnesses showed that the Assembly's allegations against him were not only spurious but had nothing to do with the performance of his official duties and did not fall under impeachable offences. Besides, he claimed that on Monday at about 7.00 p.m. after the last witness had given evidence, his counsel had sought adjournment till yesterday for other witnesses, including himself to appear before the panel. But after listening to the counsel to the Assembly, Mr. Ajayi Owoseeni, who said the impeachment of former Kaduna State Governor, Alhaji Balarabe Musa, took only three days to be concluded, the panel decided to wind up, Aluko said. The panel members, he said, insisted that he and other witnesses appear before it late in the night when they wanted to conclude their sitting. Aluko explained that when he told the panel that it would take him at least six hours to give evidence, they still insisted on concluding their assignment on Monday night. He alleged that at the prompting of Owoseeni, the panel members decided to conclude their sitting, though the constitution allows for three months within which they should conclude their investigations. He said that to the surprise of those watching the proceedings, Owoseeni presented his already type-written address to the panel while the panel adjourned immediately to write its report, which as at 8.00 a.m. yesterday, had reached the state House of Assembly. He also accused Chief Judge Omoleye of abandoning her duties to Fayose who allegedly constituted the panel, saying before the arrival of Justice Omoleye from vacation, the names of the panel had been published in the media. He said Justice Omoleye only returned on Monday to inaugurate the panel who were not only card-carrying members of PDP but political associates of the governor, and members of his kitchen cabinet. He also alleged that Omoleye and Fayose met in London on September 17 where they agreed on the members of the panel, stressing that the Chief Judge only acted out the script written for her by the governor. He maintained that throughout the impeachment trial, it was apparent that the panel's members were out to find him guilty at all costs. He added: "From day one of the sitting, we knew that the panel was a kangaroo one, just to actualise their intention. We equally knew that the House of Assembly has been compromised to do the bidding of Fayose. "The people who served on the panel are not known to Ekiti people. I am ready to abide by the resolution of the House because no matter their decision, that would not be the end of the world for me. But Osilaja said that Aluko's impeachment would not be the end of the issue as there are two suits pending at the High Court on the matter. The first suit is challenging the impeachment process based on the claim that the legislators were bribed to remove the deputy governor. The second suit is challenging the composition of the panel, which Osilaja said was done before the arrival of the Chief Judge in the country from her vacation abroad. Describing the impeachment process as a tragedy, Osilaja said in his career spanning over 27 years, he had not seen any such situation. He likened the activities of the governor to that of a dictator, saying 16 allegations were leveled against the deputy governor but the assembly only took evidence on two, leaving the remaining 14. He also queried the allegations, saying they were not related to the duties of the office of the deputy governor and did not have detailed particulars. He said he was going to petition the National Judicial Council (NJC) on the alleged "misconduct of the Chief Judge who allowed Fayose to appoint members of the panel for her, saying a national newspaper had published the names of the panel members before its inauguration. "It is like giving a baby his name before he was born. What the Chief Judge did was to give the baby's name on Saturday while the baby was born the following Monday," he said. Also, Osilaja said a petition would be written to the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) against the chairman of the panel, Mr. Kayode Ogundana, and Mr. Owoseeni for alleged unprofessional misconduct, saying the duo obstructed fair hearing during the proceedings of the panel. Besides, for disallowing the evidence of the deputy governor, a suit would also be instituted at the ECOWAS Court against the impeachment process. It was a double trouble for the former deputy governor as he was equally suspended from the ruling PDP in the state. According to a statement signed by 11 chieftains of the PDP in Ikere Local Council where the former deputy governor hails from, Aluko is no longer fit to continue to parade himself as a bona fide member of the party, "having run fowl of party orders and constitution." SUSPECTED ARSONISTS ATTACK ADO LG SECRETARIAT Ekiti State Acting Governor, Hon. Olatunbosun has expressed shock at the level of damage to an office at Ado LG secretariat by unknown persons. During a visit to the Secretariat yesterday, the chairman of the council, Mr. Taye Fasubaa, explained to the visiting acting Governor that the fire was started at about 11.00pm on Wednesday, 7th September, 2005 in his office. Conducting the Acting Governor round his office, Mr. Taye Fasubaa said the suspected arsonists pulled down the wall of the secretariat to gain entrance into the premises without the knowledge of security men after which they broke the louvers of his office. He insisted that the incident was politically motivated. He noted that only the offices of the chairman and that of his secretary were affected by the fire while the louver blades of the room were. FAYOSE SOLICITS COOPERATION FOR DEVELOPMENT Ekiti State Governor, Dr Ayodele Fayose has called for the cooperation of all and sundry in the arduous task of developing the state. Speaking in an emotion-laden voice at the Oluyemi Kayode stadium, Ado-Ekiti on Saturday on the occasion of the 45th independence anniversary of Nigeria and the 9th creation anniversary of Ekiti State, Dr Fayose stated that the State was greater than each individual pleaded that differences should be sunk in the overall interest of the state. The Chief Executive pleaded with the aggrieved the critics and enemies of his administration to sheathe their swords and allow the young State to continue move forward at a faster rate. Noting that he could not be in office forever, he pleaded for a peaceful tenure to allow him translate his dream for the development of the common man into reality. The Governor stated his intention to utilize the next dry season for the rehabilitation of more roads in the state in order to actualise his vision of a good road network for the state. He assured that the construction of the second phase of the Oluyemi Kayode stadium would commence in the next few months. Dr Fayose explained that the controversial N100 million owed Omega bank plc had been fully paid adding that the N4billion Ekiti State bond sourced from the capital market by the immediate past administration would be completely paid in November this year. The Chief Executive affirmed that the dept relief granted the Federal Government by the foreign lending institutions would defray part of the foreign loans of Ekiti State. Governor Fayose assured that the University of Ado-Ekiti, UNAD’S college of medicine was a task that must be done said his administration has resolved to earmark N 200million annually for the next 4years to ensure the completion of a new college of medicine project. Dr Fayose congratulated the people on the two occasions, called for fervent prayers for the state to record more peace, stability and development and assured that the best was yet to come from his administration. The independence and State Creation anniversary celebration which was low-keyed in the State witnessed march past by school children, groups and voluntary organisations while Governor Fayose took the salute during the march past. | 
