ONI ASKS SUPREME COURT TO REINSTATE HIM

Former Governor of Ekiti State, Chief Segun Oni, of the Peoples Democratic Party, on Monday asked the Supreme Court to reinstate him as the governor of the state.

In the alternative, he asked the apex court to remove Governor Kayode Fayemi and direct the swearing in of the Speaker of the state House of Assembly, pending the determination of the case.

Oni, through his counsel, Joe Gadzama, (SAN), stated this when the Supreme Court heard an appeal in which he is challenging the nullification of his election and the subsequent declaration of Fayemi as the governor of the state.

 The Ilorin Division of the Court of Appeal, presided over by the now suspended President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Ayo Salami, had declared Fayemi  governor of Ekiti State on October 15, 2010.

Oni’s argument that the appellate court judgment should be set aside followed his allegations that the panel chaired by Justice Salami, favoured Fayemi and the Action Congress Nigeria, and as a result, denied him his fundamental right to fair hearing.

Gadzama added that the inability of the Court of Appeal to retry the appeal based on “likelihood of judicial bias” against the Salami-led panel was against Oni’s fundamental right to fair hearing and justice.

He therefore asked the court to set aside the October 15, 2010 judgment of the appeal tribunal, as well as the January 27, 2012 ruling of the appellate court on the appeal, and thereby install Oni as the governor.

In the alternative, he asked the apex court to order the swearing-in of the Speaker of the state assembly on an interim basis.

However, the respondents, Fayemi and the Independent National Electoral Commission, represented by John Bayeshea, (SAN), and Ibrahim Bawa, respectively, opposed the appeal and asked the court to dismiss it because it was frivolous.

Source: Punch