Commission Of Enquiry Can Not Stop Fayemi From Contesting Elections, Federal High Court Says

Dr. Kayode Fayemi (File Photo)

Court Clears Fayemi To Contest Ekiti Governorship Election

A Federal Capital Territory High Court, Bwari division, has nullified  the report of the Commission of Enquiry set up by Governor of Ekiti State, Ayodele Fayose, which barred Kayode Fayemi from holding public office for 10 years.

It  will be recalled that Naija News had earlier reported that the Ekiti State Government , through the commission of enquiry, investigated the tenure of Mr Fayemi as governor between 2010 and 2014, and found him culpable in the mismanagement of funds belonging to the state government.

It was based on this allegations that  a case was filed by the Action Peoples Party (APP), challenging the eligibility of Mr Fayemi to contest the office of Governor of Ekiti State on the grounds that he has been indicted by the commission.

Meanwhile, the judgment delivered yesterday in Abuja, the judge, O.A. Musa, dismissed the suit by the APP on the grounds that it was without merit. Mr Musa  said  that the ‎process leading to the report and white paper was tainted with bias.

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 by the National Assembly through the first alteration of the Constitution in 2011.

Justice Musa who answered the two questions posed by the plaintiff in the negative, refused all its prayers and declared that Mr Fayemi was eligible to contest the next governorship election and that the APC was at liberty, under the law to field him as its candidate.

He upheld the arguments of Mr Fayemi and the APC that the provisions of Section 182(1)(i) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) having been repealed by the First Alteration to the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria left the plaintiff without a leg to stand on, since the basis of their case was the provision of section 182(1) (i) of the 1999 Constitution as amended which had ceased to exist.