The
All Progressives Congress in Ekiti State has again urged the Attorney General
and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN), to prosecute all indicted
people in the June 21, 2014 Ekiti governorship election rigging scandal.
The
renewed call followed media reports on confessional statements by the expelled
Ekiti State Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party, Dr. Tope Aluko.
The
party said it had on two occasions petitioned the Office of the Attorney
General and Minister of Justice on the same matter, stressing that the latest
revelations had made it imperative for the nation’s chief law officer to act.
The
Ekiti APC Publicity Secretary, Taiwo Olatunbosun, noted in a statement on
Monday that the election fraud story had refused to go away despite all
“shenanigans” by Governor Ayodele Fayose, who he said was the biggest
beneficiary of the fraud.
According
to him, the soldiers should not be made to suffer alone for the alleged crime
committed with Fayose and others in the PDP who are still walking free.
Aluko
had claimed that President Goodluck Jonathan gave Fayose N4.7bn cash to
prosecute the election.
He
also revealed how the PDP rigged the governorship election for Fayose.
But
the APC spokesman said even though there was nothing new in the revelations, it
had become pertinent to prosecute the suspects as the revelations were again
emanating from an insider who participated fully in what is now known as
Ekitigate.
Olatubosun
said, “By Aluko’s revelations, we are justified in our claim that our candidate,
Dr. Kayode Fayemi, never lost that election but was criminally toppled by a
coup d’etat orchestrated by Fayose in cahoots with President Jonathan’s
administration that illegally deployed money and the military to ensure victory
for Fayose.
“It
is interesting that more names are coming up in the biggest election scam ever
witnessed in Nigeria with the alleged participation of Ifeanyi Ubah of the
infamous Transformation Agenda for Nigeria, a shady campaign group of former
President Jonathan. No wonder Ubah was compensated with an honorary fellow
award by Fayose at the Ekiti State College of Education for a job well done.”
The
APC said President Muhammadu Buhari should use the Ekiti election fraud case to
convince Nigerians that official impunity and fraud would not have a place in
Nigeria under his watch.
“We
have seen the army tackle the military aspect of the Army Probe Panel report.
We expect the police and the AGF to also toe the same path in coming out with
the civilian component of the probe report and act accordingly.”
Noting
that Fayose had always mouthed his readiness to wave his immunity to face
prosecution over alleged crimes, he said this was the time to wave that
immunity clause to face prosecution on the electoral fraud.
Olatunbosun
urged Nigerians to prevail on the minister of justice to compel Fayose to
explain to the world what he meant by saying that he collected INEC soft copies
and got them printed as captured in Capt. Sagir Koli’s tape detailing all
activities connected with the Ekiti rigging.
“Besides
Fayose talking on the tape about how INEC gave him soft copies that he printed
to win the election, the minister of justice must also compel the governor, who
spoke on election result collation in the tape, to tell Nigerians which
election result he was collating in Efon-Alaaye on June 19, 2014, two clear
days before the June 21, 2014 governorship election,” Olatunbosun added.
Meanwhile,
a former Lagos State Commissioner for Police, Alhaji Abubakar Tsav, and the
South-East Zonal Spokesman for the APC, Mr. Osita Okechukwu, have called for
the arrest and prosecution of all those involved in the rigging of the Ekiti
election.
The
two men, who spoke in separate telephone interviews on Monday, described the
revelations about the rigging of the election in question as a good
development.
Tsav
noted that the revelation was good for the country’s democracy in the sense
that it now shows that no crime can go undetected forever. This, he noted,
would send a clear signal to all those who have plans to replicate such infamy
to have a rethink.
According
to him, the revelation will also assist Nigerians to be more vigilant in
subsequent elections with a view to ensuring that they not only vote but that
their votes count.
He
said, “Without a doubt, these (revelations) show that the no-nonsense
disposition of President Buhari to issues of impunity and corruption is
beginning to yield fruits because people now come up with revelations that will
help improve the electoral system.”
Source: The Punch
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