Jubilation In Ekiti As Fayemi Wins At Supreme Court

Jubilation In Ekiti As Fayemi Wins At Supreme Court

There was wild jubilation in Ado Ekiti, the Ekiti state on Friday when the news filtered into town that the state governor Dr Kayode Fayemi has won at the Supreme Court on the litigation filed against his re-election in 2018.

The apex court on Friday dismissed the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate Professor Kolapo Olusola’s appeal and declared Fayemi as the winner of the July 14, 2018 governorship poll.

Fayemi had defeated the PDP candidate, Olusola in the election and he later approached the Election Petition Tribunal, claiming that the Independent National Electoral Commission(INEC), had rigged the poll in Fayemi’s favour.

However, Olusola lost at both the Tribunal and Appeal courts before proceeding on appeal to the apex court.

It was a double celebration at the government house as Fayemi on Wednesday also emerged the chairman of the Nigeria Governor’s Forum(NGF).

Addressing his supporters and admirers yesterday in Ado Ekiti, Fayemi extended the olive branch to Professor Olusola, urging that he should join him in building Ekiti that would be economically viable to serve the populace.

Fayemi , who just returned to Ekiti from Abuja, said Olusola is an accomplished Ekiti person going by what he had read and heard about him and that he was ready to work with him to move Ekiti higher.

According to him, “Professor Olusola Eleka is an illustrious Ekiti person. Though, I am not close to him, but with what I have heard and read about him, he is an accomplished Ekiti man.

“He had served this state as a Deputy Governor and having pursued his case to the Supreme Court, he should forget about party. He should come to Ekiti party, that is where we all belong, so that we can serve our people better and in a more beneficial way “, he said.

Fayemi described both his appointment as NGF chairman and his court’s victory as signals of good things to come for Ekiti and the southwest.

“I have to give glory to God  for finally bearing testimony to the fact that the election  that brought me into office was credible and that the primary of my party  was the best ever conducted by any party in the history of our nation.

“It also bear testimony to the fact that the so called white papers which indicted me was meant for nowhere but a trash can.

“The Supreme Court said the foundation trial courts did a yeoman’s job by saying the election in Ekiti was substantially compliant with the provisions of the law.

“Let me thank the Supreme Court for putting a finality to this endless litigation because distraction is bound to happen when you have endless cases in court”.

Speaking on his emergence as NGF chairman, Fayemi said, “It was Ekiti that elected me governor, but being a NGF chairman won’t make me to withdraw from serving Ekiti.

“You can say Ekiti is in the eye of the storm, because I was elected NGF chairman to serve the nation, but there is no way I won’t defend my people in whatever that is coming to States. It is not likely that I will argue for Ekiti when things like this happens.

“The NGF is a national role, I am just a first among equals”, he said.