On Monday, Governor Ayodele Fayose, against all odds, named a judicial panel of inquiry to probe former Governor Kayode Fayemi in what is seen as an "advance reprisal" against Fayemi to do him in over the fate that awaits Fayose consequent upon the outcome of Ekitigate resolution that threatens Fayose's position as the governor of Ekiti State.
Even though the matter is in court (reason Fayose opted for a retired judge known for hostility towards Fayemi), the governor showed his contempt for the court in a desperate move to have his pound of flesh from Fayemi as history closes page on Fayose in Ekiti political relevance.
To ensure he achieves the objective of his "work to the answer" guilty verdict, Fayose has selected his cronies and those hostile to Fayemi to be on the panel that will try the former governor, who is also the Minister of Mines and Steel Development.
These are the governor's men and women, who are also PDP members with long knives, trying Fayemi in Fayose's court of vindictiveness.
(1) Justice Silas Oyewole is a retired judge of Ekiti State High Court with unabashed support for PDP and whatever it represents.
History records Justice Oyewole as a blatantly partisan judge with undisguised support for the right wing of Nigerian politics. He lent support for PDP during the time AD/AC/ACN was in court to retrieve Dr Kayode Fayemi's victory seized by PDP in 2007 election robbery.
Working with the then PDP's administration led by Engr Segun Oni, media reports showed that Justice Oyewole, working with the then Court Registrar, Segun Ogunyemi, now a judge in Ekiti State High Court, was a major player in PDP's machine to ensure the truncation of the tribunal hearings at the State High Court by coercing members of JUSUN (judiciary union workers) to embark on strike so that the court would be closed against members of Ekiti State Elections Petitions Tribunal to conduct their sittings in the premises of the State High Court.
Justice Oyewole did all he could to coerce judiciary workers to embark on a long strike in his fierce loyalty to help keep PDP administration in office, but the workers, who were already tired of the administration, refused to cooperate and opted to open the court for the tribunal hearings.
Oyewole therefore resorted to drafting Ogunyemi, the Court Registrar, to the conspiracy to truncate the tribunal sittings. Ogunyemi bowed to Oyewole by forcefully locking the court gates, thus delaying the start of the tribunal hearings for some time.
Eventually when Fayemi won at the Appeal Court, Oyewole as the most senior on the Bench expected Fayemi to make him the Chief Judge, his open partisanship on the side of PDP to ensure Fayemi's failure notwithstanding.
Two issues, according to media reports, worked against Oyewole: he had just about five months more to spend in the service and his open partisanship was reported to be the alleged Fayemi's discouragement to make politician Oyewole the Chief Judge.
Fayemi opted for apolitical Justice Ayodeji Daramola as the Chief Judge and this Justice Oyewole did not like.
As the most senior judge when the leadership tussle hit Ekiti judiciary over choice between Justice Bamisile and Justice Aladejana as the Chief Judge, Justice Oyewole then conducted Fayemi's swearing-in during inauguration . Justice Bamisile and Aladejana were in court over who should be CJ.
After administering oath of office on Fayemi on October 16, 2010, Oyewole wore long faces and swooned and swooned till the end of the event, storming out of the inauguration grounds as a man mortally wounded.
Reports said Oyewole never forgave Fayemi for not making him the Chief Judge, even as he complained to mutual friends about the pains of not being appointed as the Chief Judge.
Today, Oyewole sits in court that will determine Fayemi's integrity and political future. The result that will emerge from the sitting is better known than imagined.
Vincent Omodara, a former Director of Finance and Accounts (DFA) in Fayemi's administration, is a mutual friend of businessman and politician, Jimoh Ibrahim, who contested Ondo State governorship under the umbrella of PDP in February 2017. When the going was good between Fayose and Jimoh Ibrahim, the latter introduced Omodara to Fayose. Fayose moved him to the Accountant General's Office where he has been helping Fayose to doctor documents relating to illegal funds transfers in the Accountant General's office.
Omodara was recently promoted by Fayose as the Executive Secretary, the position not known to the civil service law, to enable him qualify for the job assigned to him because the director could not be trusted for the job.
Chief Magistrate Idowu Ayenimo is a pro-PDP judicial officer, who had helped Fayose dump APC members into cells on trumped-up charges without giving them the benefit of defence. Matters involving APC members are exclusively allocated to Ayenimo in order to do Fayose's bidding.
Incorrigibly corrupt, Ayenimo has six months to retire from the service and so ready to assist his friend to undo Fayemi in Fayose's favour.
Blessing Oladele, a labour leader, is an APC defector to PDP. His anger against Fayemi is that the former governor did not replace his stolen car and Fayemi did not help him in the obaship tussle in Ikun Araromi. Oladele is also one of the Labour leaders secretly recorded recently by Fayose on video taking money from him for Labour support. Fayose later showed them the video to their shock, warning them to behave and cooperate with him in all things or else he would leak their secret to workers.
Mr S.B.J. Bamise of the Ministry of Justice is on the panel as a pay back time to show gratitude to Fayose who promoted him above his superiors to make him a boss to enable him qualify for his present hatchet job.
Bamise, a civil servant, works directly with Owoseni Ajayi in the Ministry of Justice. Owoseni is the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice. Both Owoseni Ajayi, Fayose and Bamise participated in the selection of the panel members. Bamise's job on the panel is to report proceedings to Fayose and Owoseni on daily basis.
Ekiti Periscope
May 23, 2017
