Ondo elections: Fayose faults Buhari’s silence

Ekiti State Governor, Mr. Ayodele Fayose, has expressed concerns over what he described as the silence of President Muhammadu Buhari on the Ondo State matter, saying it poses serious threat to democracy.

Fayose also called on the judiciary to rise in defence of democracy by doing justice fearlessly, speedily and with honesty in the Ondo State election cases and other political cases.

The governor hailed the President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Zainab Bulkachuwa, for the swift composition of a new panel to hear appeals over the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in Ondo State.

He, however, urged the panel to be mindful of delay tactics by “the same people who wrote frivolous petition to impugn the integrity of the initial panel.”

Fayose in a statement issued on Friday by his Special Assistant on Public Communications and New Media, Lere Olayinka, urged the new panel to “do justice unto God and not unto powers that be and be mindful that justice delayed is justice denied.”

According to him, the silence of President Muhammadu Buhari on the Ondo State matter “which poses serious threat to democracy in the country is highly disturbing.”

He said, “No doubt, democracy in Nigeria is being threatened by the open collaboration of the APC-led Federal Government with the Independent National Electoral Commission; and only a God-fearing judiciary can save the situation from getting out of hand.

“In its desperation to distract the PDP and rig the Ondo State election in advance for the APC, INEC has chosen to abandon its own law by endorsing someone who did not emerge through any known electoral process as the candidate of the PDP, thereby plunging Ondo State into crisis.

“There is no doubt that all other political parties in Nigeria, except the APC, are now contesting elections against INEC. But like every affliction of the Israelites, this too will not endure forever.

“The new Appeal Panel must therefore do its job speedily and timely so that what remains of our democracy will not be destroyed.

“The panel should remember the biblical Solomonic judgment that saved that harlot and her child and must not allow enemies of democracy to use delay tactics to frustrate the case.”

Fayose said it was worrisome that in Federal Government’s bid to turn Nigeria to a one-party State, the judiciary was being harassed and intimidated to submission.

He advised the APC-led Federal Government to put food on the tables of Nigerians instead of preoccupying itself with its political expansion agenda.

“We are at a critical junction in our history as a nation, noble men are becoming helpless daily and we need God to intervene through the judiciary.

“If the judiciary fails to rise to this perilous situation and save our democracy from the hands of the APC cabal, it will not survive the onslaught that will be brought on it sooner than later,” Fayose said.

While calling on the people of Ondo to stand up and defend democracy in their state, Fayose assured that anti-democracy elements trying to manipulate the November 26 election in advance will be defeated by the collective will of the people.