Governor Ayodele Fayose is now jittery as the people who perpetuated the fraud that characterized the election that brought him into power are now facing the consequences of their action.
Two senior army officers, Brigadier General Aliyu Momoh and the former spokesman of the Nigerian Army, Brigadier General Olajide Laleye, as well as other officers, indicted in the conduct of the elections have just been fired. They were found guilty by the Military Council that tried them.
This is even as Governor Fayose has expressed fear that he is the target of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration for his unrelenting criticism of the President’s policies. He added that the realisation made him to be cautious of his dealings in office.
“I have started the construction of a flyover in Ado/Ikere Road for N5.7bn. I have also invited the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission to be part of it, because I know I am a target of the current administration.
“You may not like my face or my style. But take the message and leave the messenger. If they have anything against me, they would have published it I know. I prepare for my defence. I am fully prepared.
“Criticising the President should not make me an enemy. We will sue the government. We learnt this from Asiwaju Bola Tinubu. He is always in court either by proxy or direct. You cannot keep arresting my principal officers and members of my state House of Assembly.”
It was learnt that the retirement of the senior officers was in connection with the recommendations of the panel set up by the Army authorities to look into allegations of professional misconduct against military personnel in the conduct of the June 14, 2014 governorship poll in Ekiti State and the 2015 general elections.
The panel was also directed to investigate the roles played by the military officers who participated in the August, 2014 governorship election in Osun State.
After the results of the Ekiti governorship election was released, where Fayose, who contested on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was declared the winner, there were allegations that the Army personnel deployed in the state, led by Momoh, played active roles in an alleged rigging of the poll.
An officer of the Nigerian Army, Captain Sagir Koli, who participated in the supervision of the poll, had leaked an audio recording of a meeting, featuring Fayose, Momoh, former Minister of State for Defence, Musliu Obanikoro; former Minister of Police Affairs, Mr. Jelili Adesiyan and the PDP governorship candidate in Osun State, Senator Iyiola Omisore, among others, where the alleged rigging was hatched.
The individuals had denied the rigging allegations.
It was learnt that the Army council met in February to consider the recommendations of the panel, set up by the Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Tukur Buratai, to investigate allegations of professional misconduct against its personnel in the last elections.
The Board of Inquiry, led by the General Officer Commanding, 1 Division of the Nigerian Army, Kaduna, Maj. Gen. Adeniyi Oyebade, indicted some officers and recommended various degrees of sanctions for them in a report submitted to the Army chief on January 11, 2016.
The Oyebade-led panel recommended the compulsory
retirement of two officers from the Army, three others for loss of command and one for prosecution for receiving financial gratification.
The panel recommended 15 officers to be put on the watch list and nine officers for investigation by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
Also, the panel said that six officers should face an audit panel and 62 officers (mostly of the rank of Major and below) should be given Letters of Displeasure and to appear before their respective GOCs for counseling.
Oyebade had said 23 officers, over 100 soldiers and 62 civilians appeared before the panel which was constituted on
October 20, 2015 “to investigate the alleged unprofessional and unethical conduct of some Nigerian Army personnel in Ekiti and Osun states’ governorship election in 2014 as well as in any other state in Nigeria, where other allegations of misconduct were made during the 2015 general elections.”
Part of the committee’s terms of reference include: “to review the involvement of the Nigerian Army formations/units and its personnel in elections and other duties in aid of civil authority.”
The Army authorities had said the investigation was
designed “to prevent future unprofessional conduct by officers and men in the performance of their constitutional roles while
strengthening Nigerian Army’s support to democratic values and structures.” [myad]
