25th September, 2014
Temperamental Ekiti state Governor elect, Ayodele Fayose, slapped a court judge today for being rude to him and then ordered his thugs to beat him further.
The victim is Justice John Adeyeye of the Ekiti High Court, Ado Ekiti.
The action of Fayose and his thugs triggered some pandemonium in the court, with judicial workers and others running into safety. The sitting of the Ekiti State Governorship Election petition Tribunal could also not hold.
Premium Times quoting witnesses said that PDP thugs had besieged the court premises as early as 6am, while a detachment of policemen from the police headquarters were also seen on major streets and around the court.
Justice Adeyeye of High Court 3, who was miffed by the huge number of the thugs as they surged towards the court premises had approached Mr Fayose and urged him to prevail on “his supporters” to keep a safe distance from the court premises.
“An enraged Mr. Fayose was said to have shouted the judge down, slapped him and ordered his men to beat him up.
Immediately, thugs numbering about 20 pounced on Justice Adeyeye, beat him up and tore his clothes, while his co workers scampered and shouted for help.
Following the development, judicial workers hurriedly shut down the court premises thereby preventing any court proceeding for hours before the police fired tear gas canisters to disperse the hoodlums.
Justice Adeyeye is presently receiving treatment at a private hospital in Ado-Ekiti.
On Monday, PDP thugs had also attacked Justice Adeyeye, adjudicating in a case filed by Ekiti 11 to determine Fayose’s eligibility for the June 21 governorship election.
At a press conference in Lagos on Wednesday, Fayose had accused the state judiciary of working in cahoots with the ruling All Progressives Congress to disqualify him and dispossess him of his governorship mandate.
The governor-elect said this was the primary reason a socio-political group, Ekiti-11, went to court to ensure that it could achieve this through the back door.
He said it was through what he called a ‘dubious’ court judgement that a former governor, Segun Oni, was ousted, paving the way for Governor Kayode Fayemi of the APC in 2010.
Fayose, however, vowed that the people of the state would not allow his mandate to be stolen, as they were now more enlightened than before.
He said, “The whole scheming in Ekiti State is just about the APC obtaining judgement through the back door after losing elections on June 21, 2014. You will recall that Segun Oni’s tenure was truncated through this back door judgement by some judicial officers who have been compromised.
“They can go as far as losing their career if and when politicians pay them well. The Ekiti people have spoken and they have spoken well. I came back into the country on Tuesday night and I have been briefed on the developments in the state. I want to state clearly that we will not allow any back door judgement to stall my inauguration.
“Their target is to install the Speaker of the Ekiti State House of Assembly, who is an APC member, claiming that Fayose is not qualified to contest. I want to state that the people of Ekiti State are interested and they are equally more enlightened than before where someone will just come and obtain a judgement through the back door to stall a process and steal the people’s mandate.”
He said there was the need for the judiciary in the state to be objective and fair, alleging that the judges in the state had been compromised because some of them were members of the Ekiti-11.