The governor-elect for Ekiti state under the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Ayodele Fayose has declared that he and his party had no confidence in the trial judge, Justice Isaac Ogunyemi and the state’s Chief Judge, Justice Ayodeji Daramola; the duo he alleged had compromised the integrity of their offices by being sympathetic to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state. He said that the judges, who were violently attacked within the week by political thugs loyal to PDP, were trying to help APC which he said is bent on procuring a black market judgment in its favour.

Ekiti state has been in the news lately following an alleged attack by party followers of Ayo Fayoshe, on an election tribunal judge, Justice John Adeyeye, beating him up and ripping his clothes for being allegedly rude to Mr. Fayose.
Fayose, who addressed newsmen today in Lagos on the sordid state of affairs in Ekiti state called to the Chief justice of Nigeria, Justice Alomar Murktah urged her to use her to investigate the activities and roles of the two judges especially the Chief Judge, Daramola.
The governor-elect claimed that he was not aware that a judge was beaten up in Ado Ekiti, the state capital, adding: “infact, this is strange to me. Though, I visited the Election Petition Tribunal as a party to the case and I was the only one that was allowed passage by security to the Tribunal. And to the best of my knowledge, the three judges handling the Tribunal case actually seated.
“How can I order the people to beat up a Judge that has nothing to do with me? At what point was this Judge beaten? Was he a member of the Tribunal? Because I went to the Tribunal and not the regular Court.
“But, I want to point out that a situation whereby Judges Or judicial officers who should be custodian of the law got compromised with politicians, then anarchy sets in. The Judge handling the suit against my qualification dropped the case because of tension and because he lacks the confidence to continue….It would have been better for him to insist that he would try the case based on its merit. It is sad that most of our judges have compromised.
“If you have been defeated in all the 16 local Government and you now want to come through the window, it won’t be like ice cream party to APC. I would not be too cheap like Segun Oni. I am not going to be cheap at all because I am elected by the people.
“I don’t care about whatever they write about me because I have grown a thick skin. The strategy of APC will not work. Nobody, no matter how highly placed would remove me cheaply.”
Fayose had on 24 September 2014 alleged of a plot by the state All Progressive Congress (APC) in connivance with some elements in the state judiciary to botch his inauguration on October 16 as governor and that APC is planning to install the Speaker of the House of Assembly, Adewale Omirin as acting governor.
The governor-elect said however that despite the alleged partisanship of the two judges, he had enormous confidence in the state judiciary and consequently urged that the case be reassigned to another judge that had no leaning whatsoever.
Fayose while accusing the APC of desperation to arm-twist the people of Ekiti who in their own wisdom and decision elected him as their next governor, to snatch their victory through the backdoor, advised the state Governor Kayode Fayemi to continue to be a responsible man which he manifested when he openly admitted that he lost the election.

[myad]

Following a fresh attack by unidentified political thugs today on a High Court Judge in Ado-Ekiti, all courts in Ekiti State have been shut down indefinitely.
A statement today from the state’s Chief Registrar, Mr. Obafemi Fasanmi, said the decision to shut down the courts was taken by the Chief Judge of the State, Justice Ayodeji Daramola, to safeguard the lives of judicial workers and litigants having matters in courts.
“It would be recalled that on Monday, 22, some political thugs invaded the High Court Number 6 in Ado-Ekiti where Justice Olusegun Ogunyemi was presiding.
“His sitting for that day was disrupted and aborted and the Judge had to be ferried away by a detachment of police officers after he had been harassed and chased around his office by the thugs.
“Again today, Thursday, 25th September 2014, another set of political thugs in their hundreds invaded the High Court premises in Ado-Ekiti and in the process assaulted Hon. Justice John Adeyeye of the High Court Number 3 in Ado-Ekiti by beating him up and tearing his suit into shreds while the police officers on guard looked unconcerned and uninterested as judges, magistrates and other members of staff had to run for their dear lives, while court properties were either damaged or destroyed.”
The statement said that the office of the CJ was not spared as some documents were also torn, adding that because of all these, the courts in the state would reopen when adequate security is guaranteed judges, magistrates, judicial workers, litigants and other users.
Tension in the state has been on the rise since matters relating to the June 21 poll are being handled by courts.‬

[myad]

President Goodluck Jonathan has assured the international community that next year’s general elections in Nigeria will be conducted in accordance with global best practices to further strengthen the country’s democratic institutions.
At separate meetings with the United Nations Secretary-General, Mr. Ban Ki Moon and the British Prime Minister, Mr. David Cameron before leaving New York late Wednesday, President Jonathan reaffirmed his personal commitment to making elections in Nigeria progressively better, freer and more credible.
The President said that in keeping with his administration’s dedication to openness and transparency in the conduct of public affairs, international observers will be allowed to freely monitor the 2015 elections and affirm that the elections are as free, fair and credible as his administration has promised.
He thanked Mr. Ban Ki Moon and Mr. Cameron for their continuing support for Nigeria’s effort to curb terrorism, insurgency and violent extremism within its borders, saying that the Federal Government will welcome even more assistance from Britain especially in the areas of intelligence sharing, anti- terrorism training and defence logistics.
At a later meeting with the Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), Dr. Margaret Chan, President Jonathan expressed Nigeria’s appreciation of the support it received from WHO for the successful containment of the Ebola Virus Disease.
Affirming that Nigeria was now Ebola-free, President Jonathan called for greater international support to ensure that the virus is also eradicated in other West Africa countries that it continues to ravage.
“Nigeria is free of the virus now but we know that to be permanently free from it, we must remain vigilant and work with WHO and the international community to eradicate it completely from our sub-region and forestall the possibility of its re-emergence on our shores through migration,” he told Dr. Chan.
President Jonathan also assured her that in spite of hindrances by insurgents, terrorists and violent extremists, the Federal Government remained fully committed to eradicating polio from Nigeria in the shortest possible time.
Dr. Chan and Mr. Ban Ki Moon seized the opportunity of their meeting with President Jonathan to commend his exemplary
leadership on Nigeria’s successful effort to stop the spreading of the Ebola Virus.

[myad]

Former Nigerian Vice President, Abubakar Atiku has given a run-down of how the former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo ran the government of Nigeria with him from 1999 to 2007.
Speaking Wednesday when he declared his Presidential ambition on the platform of the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC), Atiku Abubakar regretted that all the gains they made for Nigeria have been reduced to emptiness by the present crop of leadership.
“As Vice President of Nigeria from 1999 to 2007, I worked closely with my boss, President Olusegun Obasanjo, who is also a passionate defender of Nigerian unity. We re-integrated our country into the international community following years of isolation; we professionalized our armed forces; we embarked on fundamental economic reforms articulated by an Economic Team, which I had the honour to chair. We focused on macro-economic stability and transforming critical areas such as banking, insurance, oil and gas, telecommunication, pension and the Civil Service. We created novel institutions that should lay the foundation for good governance and accountability such as the Bureau of Procurement (Due Process), Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), SERVICOM, whose Golden rule is “Serve others as you would like to be served.”
Atiku emphasized most of such achievements have now been turned into mere shadows of themselves.
“We also paid off nearly all of our foreign debt which was crippling the country; we stabilized the exchange rate of the naira as well as interest rates, and reduced inflation.  What needed to follow was for these macro-economic gains to be further translated into improved welfare for our people.
With the reforms in the telecommunications sector we increased the number of functioning telephone lines from 200,000 at the inception of our administration to over 70 million by the time we left.  Our reforms also led to an increase in the market capitalization of the Nigerian Stock Exchange from N400 billion to over N8 trillion by 2007 and to nearly N13 trillion by 2008.
“We also handed over well-articulated master Plans for the development of multi-modal transportation system, including a contract for the modernization of the railways.  We also commenced the implementation of the Gas to Power Master Plan, with a target of 26,000 megawatts of electricity expected to be delivered by 2015.
“This is the story of the service of an administration, which I am proud to have been a part of. These achievements were made possible because of the vision, commitment and dedication of leadership.”
Atiku made it clear that good leadership is what it takes to make good things happen. [myad]