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Lagos
Lawyer and Human Rights Activist Festus
Keyamo says the resignation of Mrs.
Ayoka Adebayo as Resident Electoral
Commissioner ,Ekiti State must be
rejected.He insists she should be made
to announce the results of the election
she conducted .Keyamo's statement reads
thus:
''I received the news of the resignation
of the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC)
of Ekiti State, Mrs. Ayoka Adebayo,
with sadness and a deep sense of
disillusionment.
''The reason cited by her for her action
(that is, pressure from certain quarters
to announce a result that is against her
conscience) makes it all the more
disturbing because it is the clearest
evidence yet that there is a band of
election riggers, electoral fraudsters
and anti-democratic forces in our midst.
These forces, if allowed to blossom,
will eventually destroy our young
democracy.
''However, I do not support the
resignation of Mrs. Adebayo. She should
have announced to the world and handed
over to security agents, those who tried
to pressurize her to announce fake
results. A crime has been committed
here. By taking up the job of Resident
Electoral Commissioner of Ekiti State,
she had impliedly pledged to discharge
her duties without fear or favour,
affection or ill-will and no matter
whose ox is gored. Her act of resigning
in the middle of a just-concluded
election without announcing the result
is a crass abdication of her duties and
responsibilities and by that act, she
has injured her conscience more rather
than protect her conscience. The
resignation is an act of
irresponsibility and shows that she can
no longer be trusted with public duties
for the rest of her life.
''She has also left behind a legal
quagmire. After her resignation it is
doubtful whether a new Resident
Electoral Commissioner who never
conducted an election can be appointed
to declare the result of that election.
''Her resignation without announcing the
true and correct result according to her
conscience has done more harm than good
to the nation, to the people of Ekiti
State and to our nascent democracy. It
is reminiscent of what happened with
Prof. Humphrey Nwosu in 1993 and the
June 12 saga that followed.
''Her resignation must be rejected and
she must be made to announce the result
of the election that she conducted. If
the Federal Government’s act of
declaring her wanted is to bring her
back to perform her duties, and to
interrogate her as to those who tried to
make her announce fake results, then I
support it. She has a duty to tell the
nation those who attempted to rig the
election.
Meanwhile, the
United Action for Democracy also said at
a press briefing yesterday that
the will of Ekiti people must
prevail.Below is the full text of the
UAD statement:
Text of the Press Briefing by United
Action for Democracy (UAD),
Held in Lagos , Monday, April 27th
2009
THE WILL OF THE EKITI PEOPLE MUST
PREVAIL!
FAYEMI WON THE APRIL 25TH
RERUN ELECTION:
INEC SHOULD DECLARE HIM THE GOVERNOR
ELECT
1.
We in the UAD monitored the Ekiti rerun
election of April 25th 2009
not on the basis of the selective
accreditation imposed by INEC but as
poll watchers and defender of people's
mandate on the conviction that every
Nigerian and democratic citizen has
every right to assert the sovereignty of
the people in a polity dominated by
brigandage.
2.
The
election was marred by widespread
disruption in key wards the PDP
considers its stronghold, in particular,
the homesteads in Ijero, Ekiti West,
Ekiti East, Ido Osi and Gbonyin, Ikole
LGAs. In all these places, especially in
Ifaki wards 1 and 2 and Usi (in Ido Osi
LGA) where Oni come from, PDP thugs and
camouflaged security agents from
neighboring states of Oyo and Osun
prevented agents of the opposition
parties, the media, accredited observers
access to the pollng stations. Equally,
voters accreditation didn't take place
in some of these places; hence the
multiple voting and stuffing of ballots
in the residences and slaughter houses
of key Ekiti PDP chieftains such as
Senator Ayo Arise and Senator Folorunsho
Kila; both of who led their thugs to
unleash untold violence on the Ekiti
voters and the opposition in the State.
3.
PDP thugs allegedly deployed by
ex-governor Segun Oni assaulted and
unleashed violence on Dr. Abubakar Momoh,
Associate Professor of Political
Science, Lagos State University, LASU;
Dr. Azeez Olaniyan, Lecturer, Department
of Political Science, Ekiti State
University, Ado-Ekiti;
Wahab
Oyedokun, a lawyer on the staff of the
National Human Rights Commission; three
other volunteers from the Bimbo Olaniyan,
Programme Officer with Action Aid; and
Committee for the Defence of Human
Rights (CDHR). The Police watched as
they put used tyre around Wahab's neck.
Meanwhile, four UAD members “ Bankole
Rahman, Fadare Adeoye (arrested in Oye),
Ayodeji Adeosun and Sunday Afolabi
(arrested on Friday at Ado-Ekiti but now
released).
4.
We
condemn the brutalization and continued
detention of these patriots and demand
their immediate and unconditional
release.
5.
As a
result of violence unleashed on AC and
other parties agents, media and
observers and voters at the polling and
collation centres, election was at about
noon postponed in Oye LGA; while the
collation of results in Ido Osi LGA was
inconclusive.
6.
For
instance, the election into the 2 wards
(Oye 1 and 2) in Oye LGA was first
postponed to hold the following day (26th
April) and later indefinitely not on the
basis of any consultation by INEC with
the stakeholders, nor in conformity with
the 2006 Electoral Act, which mandates
INEC to give two weeks notice to the
parties to the election. Thus, it is
laughable that INEC could contemplate
going ahead with its unilateral twice
postponed election in Oye on the basis
of the ballot papers already marked for
25th April.
7.
As at
the time the PDP thugs invaded Ido Osi
collation centre where several people
were shot and matcheted including
security agents, only results from 3
wards out of 12 in Ido Osi have been
collated. It is therefore criminal and
premeditated for the PDP to claim
victory on the basis of its doctored
figures that were not collated.
8.
For the
information of the general public, the
doctored figures the PDP wanted
announced which Mrs. Ayoka Adebayo,
Ekiti State Resident Electoral
Commissioner who has the statutory
mandate) refused and for which she was
subsequently declared indisposed by Mr.
Shoyebi (National Electoral
Commissioner) were for Ifaki 1 and 2 and
Usi wards which it fraudulently had.
9.
The
doctored figures the PDP had are as
follows:
-
AC PDP
(registered voters)
Ifaki I - 0
3,238
(1,432)
Ifaki II - 0
4,224 (7,253
Usi -
583 3,561
(1,902)
10.
Our
contention is that the rerun election is
an integral part of the post-Appeal
Court ruling results confirmed on
February 17th 2009.
Therefore, the misleading reports by a
section of the media that Oni leads
could only serve a purpose
re-branding a doctored result to impose
Oni on the Ekiti people. The post Appeal
Court ruling results scored Fayemi
102,007 and Oni 94,007; a
difference of 11,954.
11.
The
results declared in 5 LGAs by the Ekiti
State REC on April 25th
before it fixed its continuation for the
following day were:
AC
PDP (difference)
Ise Orun
4221
3864
(357)
Gbonyin
2871
1905
(946)
Ekiti
South-West
351
423
(72)
Ijero
1881
5,121
(3240)
Irepodun
5702
4,087
(1615)
Total votes (rerun)
15,026
15,420 (-394)
12.
From the
above, it is clear that Dr. Kayode
Fayemi of AC leads Segun Oni of PDP by
11,551 votes, taking into account
the post Appeal Court ruling results.
13.
However,
it should be stated that there are
figures for Ikole, Ekiti East and
Ekiti West which were already
collated at the LGA level but which the
INEC is yet to admit because its
electoral officers were absent at the
state collation cente. We suspect this
as part of the rigging plot, because the
agents of both parties have copies of
the signed results, which still put Dr.
Fayemi in clear lead by the time the
results are collated
14.
We commend the Ekiti people for their
resilience against the PDP rigging
agenda; and equally commend Mrs. Ayoka
Adebayo for her courage and resistance
in calling off the bluff of the PDP
vampires, despite the controversy that
surrounded her appointment. We want to
believe she was not part of the bait to
stalemate the election.
15.
It is our demand that the election in
Oye LGA should be cancelled since it was
marred by violence and a rerun within a
rerun is not acceptable. Similarly, we
urge the INEC to either accept the 3
wards already collated in Ido Osi LGA
before the process was aborted by the
PDP or outirightly cancel the ward. With
Ido Osi and Oye LGAs out, and
Ikole, Ekiti East and Ekiti West LGAs
in, FAYEMI WON THE APRIL 25TH
RERUN ELECTION and INEC SHOULD DECLARE
HIM THE GOVERNOR ELECT.
16.
As we stated on Wednesday, April 22nd
at a press conference in Lagos that it
is clear from our close observation and
intelligence reports that the only
fraudulent option opened to the PDP in
the light of the vigilance and
resilience demonstrated by the Ekiti
people is to announce an already
doctored result from Iwu-INEC Abuja .
THEREFORE, WE CALL ON THE EKITI VOTERS
TO MASS ON THE INEC OFFICE AT ADO-EKITI
WHERE THE FINAL RESULTS WILL BE COLLATED
TO RESIST ANY DECLARATION OF FALSE
RESULTS. EKITI VOTERS MUST INSIST ON
VOTES COUNT AND RESULTS ANNOUNCED AT THE
VARIOUS POLLING UNITS”. This is a
sign post to other Nigerians that
credible election can only come about on
the strength of the will of the people
and not about electoral reforms.
Comrade ABIODUN AREMU
TAIWO OTITOLAYE
Convener
General Secretary
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