Kayode Fayemi and Olusola Eleka
The Governor-Elect of Ekiti State, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, has filed his
defence to the petition by the candidate of the People’s Democratic
Party (PDP) and outgoing Deputy Governor of Ekiti State, Professor
Kolapo Olusola Eleka.
In the 2,558-page defence with over 3,000 documents as exhibits,
Dr. Fayemi averred that he won the gubernatorial election of July 14,
2018 and urged the tribunal to dismiss the petition of Prof. Eleka for
lacking in merit.
Olusola had asked the Tribunal to declare him winner of the
election, having polled the highest number of lawful votes in the
election. The PDP Candidate accused the APC of using the federal might
to muzzle opposition , while also accusing the Independent National
Electoral Commission(INEC) of falsifying results in Fayemi’s favour.
The team of lawyers armed with 3,500 exhibits and 1,009 witnesses
were led to the tribunal by three Senior Advocates of Nigeria, Mr Hakeem
AfoIabi (SAN), Mr. Yomi Aliyu (SAN) and Dr. Kayode Olatoke (SAN).
Addressing the press after filing the petition, Dr. Kayode Olatoke
(SAN), who spoke on behalf of his colleagues, said Eleka’s petition was a
waste of time as it lacked substance and was sure that the case would
be dismissed by the tribunal.
He explained further that Fayemi won fair and square in 12 out of
the 16 local governments areas of the state, while Eleka won in four. In
his response to Eleka’s petition bordering on alleged over voting in
some polling units, Olatoke dismissed this claim as frivolous and
baseless.
He said Eleka’s first ground in his petition is based on Fayose’s
phantom indictment, which had been nullified and set aside by a
competent court, Olatoke said.
“The second ground of Eleka’s petition is alleged over voting,
which is another false claim. In any case, the petition in itself is
self-defeating.
“The third ground is on deliberate voiding of votes as alleged
by Eleka but in actual fact, majority of the voided ballots were votes
meant for Fayemi, while the fourth ground is on vote buying which is
baseless as it was, Eleka’s sponsor, Fayose that was guilty of this.
“Fayemi won convincingly based on his popularity,” Olatoke
said. Other senior lawyers in the team representing Dr Fayemi and the
APC are: Prince Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), Dr. Kayode Olatoke,(SAN ), Hakeem
Afolabi (SAN), John Baiyeshea (SAN), Chief Akin Olujimi (SAN), Jelili
Owonikoko (SAN), Yomi Aliyu (SAN) and Segun Ajibola (SAN). No date has
been fixed for hearing.