APC Petitions AGF, Asks For Review of Ekiti Election

The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ekiti State has for the third time petitioned the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, Abuba­kar Malami (SAN), asking him to review the June 21, 2014 governorship election and prosecute suspects in the alleged “criminal” ma­nipulation of the electoral process that returned the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Ayodele Fayose, as the Gov­ernor of Ekiti State.

In a petition entitled, “Request for the prosecu­tion of persons involved in conspiring and perpetrating acts of electoral fraud and malfeasance in the Governorship election of June 21, 2014 in a manner other than that envisaged by the relevant provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 as amended,” the party said the review of the matter had become imperative in national interest to avoid a cycle of politicians that could seize the reins of government through treason.

According to the peti­tion by the State Chair­man of APC, Olajide Awe, the party said its present petition arose from the re­cent confessions on Chan­nels Television by the State Secretary of PDP in Ekiti State, Dr Temitope Aluko, published and broadcast on other electric and print media.

Aluko had made shock­ing revelations two weeks ago, alleging that Fayose gave Ekiti State INEC of­ficials N1 billion to com­promise its staff without the knowledge of former INEC Chairman, Prof Attahiru Jega, including naming all the personalities and insti­tutions involved in the elec­tion scam that had drawn commentaries in the local and international media, calling for justice in Ekiti State.

In APC’s petition, the party referred to the earlier two petitions dated Febru­ary 13, 2015 and Novem­ber 23, 2015 on the same subject matter, saying that by the latest confessions by one of the principal partici­pants in the election heist, “we are compelled to write this reminder to draw your attention to the urgent need to address the matter to ensure justice in what has turned a blight on the na­tion’s practice of democracy through treasonable ac­tions that denied the votes of Ekiti people.”

The party listed alleged infractions to the letters of extant provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria