IT was in a season of anarchy when Governor
Ayodele Fayose was removed from office in 2006
in an impeachment procedure that was largely
believed to be political. Now the issues arising
from that act have turned into an issue following
the celebrated second coming of Fayose to the
Ado-Ekiti Government House.
Amid judicial controversy of all sorts including a
pending court case questioning his eligibility due
to indictment and subsequent impeachment in
2006, Ayo Fayose was on Thursday sworn in as
Ekiti State governor for the second time. His
inauguration has raised dust over the eligibility of
an indicted and impeached elective official to
contest another elective office in Nigeria.
However, the action against Fayose by a group of
Ekiti political activists styled as the E-11 has
spurred commentaries on the eligibility of
impeached political office holders contesting or
holding office. It is understandable for supporters
of Governor Fayose to cry wolf given the fact that
nearly all other high profile political office holders
impeached in the country who sought office again
were not impeded.
Senator Iyiola Omisore was impeached as deputy
governor but successfully proceeded to the Senate
while before him, Governor Balarabe Musa was
impeached as governor of the Old Kaduna State in
the Second Republic but contested the presidential
elections of 2003 and 2007.
The constitutional disqualification for anybody who
aspires to be governor in Nigeria is spelt out in
Section 182 of the Constitution of the Federal
Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended).
Section 182 (1) (h) of the Constitution provides that
nobody is qualified to be governor if he has been
indicted for embezzlement or fraud by a Judicial
Commission of Inquiry or an Administrative Panel
of Inquiry or a Tribunal set up under the Tribunals
of Inquiry Act, a Tribunal of Inquiry Law or any
other law by the Federal and State Government
which indictment has been accepted by the Federal
or State Government, respectively.
Impeachment as contemplated by Section 182 (i)
(h) of the Constitution is like an indictment under
Criminal Law Procedure but impeachment does not
in itself constitute a criminal trial.
Fayose was impeached and removed from office by
the House of Assembly of Ekiti State on October
16, 2006 after a panel of inquiry, set up by the
House of Assembly in accordance with section 188
of the Nigerian constitution, found him guilty of
embezzlement. Fayose's impeachment/removal
from office has not been overturned by any court
in Nigeria. Could this have stopped him from
contesting in the last election?
Under the 2010 Electoral Act, political opponents
or political parties are empowered to challenge the
election of a winning candidate in an election if
the:
"…person whose election is questioned was, at the
time of the election, not qualified to contest the
election" (138(1)(a))
But indicted and impeached public officers have
jettisoned this constitutional provision and have
gone ahead to continue to seek election in different
capacities.
Attempts by opponents to stop Fayose from
contesting the governorship election in Ekiti failed .
For one thing, the issue of ineligibility is a pre-
election matter as ruled by the Supreme Court in
the case Farouk Salim vs. Congress for
Progressive Change (2013) LPELR-SC. 160/162.
The Supreme Court of Nigeria held that after an
election has taken place, the right of an aspirant to
file a case in the High Court or Federal High Court
under Section 87 (10) of the Electoral Act becomes
extinguished. Mary Peter Odili, J.S.C., illuminated
the position of the law thus:
But since election has taken place already, the
right vested on anybody to file a suit to challenge
the eligibility of a candidate who supplies false
information in an affidavit or document submitted
to the Independent National Electoral Commission
is extinguished. However, a pressure group, known
as E-11, parading members like Chief Segun Oni,
Senator Babafemi Ojudu among others before the
election, had sued Fayose over his alleged
ineligibility to contest the election.
They had asked the court to determine whether
Fayose was qualified to contest by virtue of his
impeachment in 2006 and whether he was right to
have allegedly given certain false information to
INEC about his state of integrity. Both the INEC
and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) were
joined in the suit.
But the plea by the lead counsel to the claimants,
Mr Norrison Quakers (SAN) for accelerated hearing
of the case before the election was not acceded.
So, Fayose went ahead to contest and win the
election.
But since he won, there have been judicial crises
in Ekiti. All manner of allegations including sacking
of the court and beating up of judges by thugs
dominated media reports leading to the collapse of
legal proceedings in Ekiti until after the
inauguration.
Was Fayose really indicted?
According to US-based Nigerian lawyer Akinwole
Ogunlola, indictment is fast becoming a deadly
political weapon of mass disenfranchisement in the
hands of Nigerian politicians.
"The framers of that Constitution did not realize at
the time that Nigerian politicians could not be
trusted with such additional power as we
immediately began to witness impeachments upon
impeachments and threat of impeachment as an
instrument of political blackmail and intimidation in
the hands of unscrupulous lawmakers?
We have even witnessed situations where our
lawmakers meet at club houses or night parties
and came out with questionable impeachment
announcements. Although relatively new, the term
"indictment" in Nigeria is fast traveling along the
same destructive track that we must all stand up
against imminent abuse by the politicians before it
becomes too late.
Hope for the opposition?
Despite being sworn in, political opponents of
Fayose believe the act of impeachment/removal
from office in 2006 can still have some political
career disability on him. These opponents are
optimistic that the newly sworn-in governor who
was removed from being governor would still be
thrown out for abusing public trust as no legal
remediation have taken place.
It should also be recalled that Iyiola Omisore was
also impeached and removed from office as a
deputy governor of Osun State but subsequently
contested three elections to the Senate and
subsequently the governorship of Osun State last
August.
Speaking then on the implications of a once-
impeached Omisore contesting governorship
election, Albert Adeogun, a lawyer and chieftain of
PDP had said: "Let me correct that impression
clearly and legally.
The so-called impeachment was nullified by a
Court in Osun State. While efforts were being made
to impeach him, he went to the Court and there
was an injunction restraining the House of
Assembly from going ahead with the impeachment
but because the so-called lawmakers were lawless,
they refused to obey the order of the Court and
went ahead and impeached him.
vanguardngr
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