In the petition entitled ‘Ekiti State Judiciary under siege of political thugs", the Chief Judge chronicled recent incidents in the state where thugs loyal to Ayo Fayose, invaded court premises, disrupted judicial activities and assaulted court officials.
Justice Daramola, in his petition to
both the NJC and the Ekiti State Commissioner of Police, accused Fayose
of leading a large number of thugs, who disrupted court proceedings,
beat up judges and court workers and also tore court records.
He also accused the policemen and other
law enforcement agents deployed within and outside the court premises of
“looking on completely uninterested and unconcerned” while the attacks
by the thugs on the court workers and users lasted.
The Chief Judge justified the closure of
the courts in the state after the mayhem, an action which he said was
to avert “looming danger within the premises of the High Court of Ekiti
State” after the police officers “posted to guard and protect the
integrity of the court and its personnel have failed us and left us at
the mercy of political hoodlums”.
It was also learnt on Tuesday that
Fayose had through, his lawyers, sent a separate petition to the NJC,
alleging that the Justices of the Governorship Election Tribunal,
sitting in Ado-Ekiti High Court headquarters had received bribe.
Fayose alleged that the panel members
had been bribed by Governor Kayode Fayemi and the All Progressives
Congress to rule against him on September 25, when the court proceedings
were disrupted by thugs allegedly loyal to him.
Fayose led thugs to court
But the Chief Judge, in the petitions
both entitled, ‘Ekiti State Judiciary under siege of political thugs,’
chronicled the invasion of the court premises in Ado-Ekiti, by thugs
between September 22 and September 24.
The petition read in part, “Now on
Thursday, the 25th day of September, Mr. Ayodele Fayose, the
governor-elect, again led thousands of people and thugs into the
premises of the High Court beating and maiming members of staff.
“The thugs invaded my court where I was
to deliver a judgment in a land matter, tore the record books, beat
court officials and vandalized the furniture in Court No. 1.
“The political thugs descended on Hon.
Justice J. A Adeyeye, the presiding judge in Court No. 3 beat and
dragged him on the ground. The judge’s suit was also torn into shreds. I
could not gain entrance into the premises of the court and had to
hurriedly turn back on being alerted that I was the prime target of the
hooligans.”
Justice Daramola said the attack on the
court on September 25 was preceded by a similar siege on the court
premises on September 22, when thugs allegedly loyal to Fayose disrupted
court proceedings apparently to avert the delivery of a ruling which
they suspected could go against the governor-elect.
The plaintiffs in the suit are challenging Fayose’s eligibility to contest the governorship election.
The CJ said he was at the Supreme Court
in Abuja attending the special court session marking the commencement of
the new legal year and the conferment of the rank of Senior Advocate of
Nigeria on some lawyers when the violence first broke out on Monday,
September 22.
A copy of the petition reads in part,
“On Monday 22nd day of September, while I was attending the Supreme
Court Special sitting in Abuja, I was called on phone that thugs loyal
to Mr. Ayodele Fayose have invaded the headquarters of the judiciary of
Ekiti State where Hon. Justice I.O Ogunyemi was delivering a ruling on
the matter instituted against him.
“The thugs beat workers black and blue
while the presiding judge and lawyers had to run for their lives. They
smashed windows and furniture. Meanwhile, the policemen deployed within
and without the premises in large number were looking on completely
uninterested and unconcerned while these thugs were on prowl beating and
maiming workers and court users.
“The thugs went on searching for the
judge who ran into hiding. It took your (the Commissioner of Police)
personal intervention when you were duly informed on phone to rush to
the scene of the mayhem within the court premises to rescue the said
judge and took him out into safety.”
According to him, from the events which
followed that of September 22, it appears that the whole episode of
violence was pre-planned.
His petition further read, “The above in
the main was just the beginning of what would appear to be a
pre-planned long siege and onslaughts on the court and its personnel.
“The political hoodlums showed again in
large numbers on Tuesday, 23rd and Wednesday 24th of September, 2014 on
the spurious ground that they came to listen to the ruling which they
did not allow the presiding judge in Court No. 6 to deliver on Monday,
September 22, 2014. No such ruling was slated for hearing since the
thugs invaded the premises of the court on Monday.”
The Chief Judge said all entreaties to
the police and law enforcement agencies to intervene in the mayhem
yielded no positive response.
He stated, “It is needless to reiterate
here that while the mayhem and attack on judges and staff and property
of the court was in progress, scores of policemen and SSS (State
Security Service) operatives posted to protect lives and property within
the court premises looked on and watched without taking any step to
save the situation.
“All entreaties to officers and men of
Ekiti State Command to protect the court as an important institution of
state yielded no positive response.”
Source: Punch
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