EKITI POLL SAGA: Fayose Mounts Pressures For Aluko’s Trial

Governor Ayo Fayose

GOVERNOR Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State has urged the Federal Government not to shield the former Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP in Ekiti State, Mr Tope Aluko from prosecution over his statements claiming that the evidences tendered before the courts leading to the affirmation of the election of the governorship election by the Supreme Court were lies.

Aluko had recently alleged with substantial evidences that the governor manipulated the electoral process and rigged the elections leading to his victory after testifying under oath that as a witness in the proceedings that the June 21, 2014 governorship poll in the state was free and fair.

Consequently, the governor earlier approached the Magistrate Court leading to issuance of a warrant of arrest against Aluko on ground of alleged perjury. In a counter move, the PDP former Secretary approached the same Court seeking the vacation of the warrant of arrest issued against him.

Interestingly, Fayose who is the complainant in the matter ought to be the principal accused person to be arrested first if not the constitutional immunity he enjoys at the moment, however as the executive governor of Ekiti State. Analogously, a case of a pot calling a kettle black

In a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Idowu Adelusi yesterday, demanded that the federal government, which prides itself as clean should not shield the former PDP’s folk from prosecution or to prevent anyone who breaches the law from prosecution.

“To Aluko and his sponsors, he is a whistle-blower, One thing we are sure of is that the whistle will eventually explode on Aluko’s face as well as the faces of his sponsors. Aluko is the one who said he saw white and that the white has now turned black. Nigerians are demanding that he should be brought to the open to explain how what he said and maintained up to the Supreme Court level has changed.

“He testified under oath at the tribunal, Appeal Court and even the Supreme Court and he came out again to recant. A vital arm of government, the judiciary, issued a valid order for his arrest and prosecution and that was widely publicized.

Analytically, in the case of Loughran v Loughran, 292 US.215,229 (1934), His Lordship, Brandeis J. in examining the scope of ‘he who comes to equity must come with clean hands’ emphatically explained that  the doctrine will apply where the applicant had also acted wrongly but wishes to enforce a right against the other.

It is in this view that the learned Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Mr. Femi Falana called for the prosecution of Governor Ayo Fayose stating that he would not use the immunity to entrench impunity. On this note, the call for Aluko’s trial by Fayose is a slap on the Nigeria’s constitution which provides ‘immunity from prosecution of some public officeholders in section 308 1999 CFRN.