Students of tertiary institutions in\u00a0 Ekiti State, today protested
\nagainst what they described as an attempt by former governor of the
\nState and current Minister of Minerals and Steel Development, Dr
\nKayode Fayemi to use the judiciary to shield himself from answering
\nquestions on allegations of corruption levelled against him and
\ndemanded that the ex-governor must present himself for questioning by
\nthe Judicial Commission of Inquiry recently constituted by the state
\ngovernment.<\/p>\n
It would be recalled that Governor Ayodele Fayose, at the instance of
\nthe Ekiti State House of Assembly recently inaugurated a Judicial
\nCommission of Inquiry to investigate Dr Fayemi on allegations of fraud
\nand diversion of public funds.<\/p>\n
Fayemi has, however, went to court to stop the commission from
\ncarrying out its duty against him.<\/p>\n
Incidentally, the state law that empowers Governor Fayose to set up
\nthe said commission was signed into law by ex-governor Fayemi in 2012.<\/p>\n
The angry students who represented all indigenes of Ekiti from such
\nstudents’ associations as the National Association of Nigerian
\nStudents (NANS), Federation of Ekiti State Students’ Unions, home and
\ndiaspora (FESSU) and other students’ unions from tertiary institutions
\nacross the country among others, marched from the Oluyemi Kayode
\nStadium in Ado-Ekiti, state capital to Ojumose to address the press
\nand from there to other parts of the city.<\/p>\n
They sang hate songs against Fayemi and carried placards with
\nagitating inscriptions such as “Ekiti students support Fayemi’s
\nprobe,” Fayemi, where are the N1 billion flowers”,” We say no to
\ncorruption” and “Fayemi don’t hide, come to Ekiti to exonerate
\nyourself!” among others.<\/p>\n
Speaking on behalf of the students, Idowu Peter, President, FESSU,
\nsaid: “we are protesting endemic corruption of political office
\nholders in Nigeria and we are demanding that the fight against
\ncorruption by the Federal Government should be across board and not
\nsectional or restricted
\nto only the opposition party.<\/p>\n
“We are also calling on immediate past governor Kayode Fayemi to come
\nto face the judicial commission of enquiry set up to probe his
\nactivities in government. He must come to defend himself against the
\nallegation of misappropriation of the N850 State Universal Basic
\nEducation Board (SUBEB) funds levelled against him and others. He
\nshouldn’t hide under a court injunction to stop the panel if indeed
\nhis hands are clean.”<\/p>\n
Also speaking, Owolabi Temitayo Alexander, chairman NANS Joint Campus
\nCommittee (JCC), Ekiti axis, said: “If former governor Fayemi knows he
\nhas no skeleton in his cupboard, we demand that he appear before the
\nstate judicial commission of enquiry set up to make him answer to
\nallegations of graft. He should not hide under a shield by the
\njudiciary. After all, he himself signed this law of judicial
\ncommission of enquiry into the constitution of the state, so he should
\nhave the moral courage to face the. Commission and not run away from
\nit.<\/p>\n
“Can you imagine a situation whereby someone who signed the law
\nestablishing a commission of inquiry in 2012 to probe his predecessor,
\nEngr Segun Oni begin to run from the same law in 2017?”<\/p>\n
Aridiogo David Olaitan, President of the Students’ Union Government,
\nSUG,\u00a0 Ekiti State University, and Ogundipe Adewale, SUG, President
\nCollege of Education, Ikere Ekiti, also corroborated their colleagues’
\nviews, saying: “The federal government must impress it on Fayemi to
\npresent himself for probe before the Ekiti State Judicial commission
\nof enquiry if indeed it is sincere with its anti-graft fight in the
\ncountry. There shouldn’t be a sacred cow in this fight. That Fayemi is
\nan appointee of the President doesn’t not shield him from being
\nprobed, ” they said.<\/p>\n
The College of Education, Ikere-Ekiti Students’ Union President,
\nOgundipe Adewale in his address said he was in support of the
\ncommission of inquiry set up by the state government adding that Dr.
\nFayemi has no reason to run away from his people if he’s not guilty.<\/p>\n
“Under normal circumstances, if you make a law, the moment it is made,
\nthe law becomes older than you. The law has no senior brother,
\neveryone is equal before the law. Dr. Fayemi should be answerable for
\nhis deeds while in office, he should desist from this hide and seek
\ngame if indeed he has nothing to hide. He should come back and jawjaw
\nwith the people he ruled for four years”, Ogundipe said.<\/p>\n
The protest which kicked off at the Oluyemi Kayode Stadium saw the
\nstudents sing protest songs round Ojumose, Okeyinmi, Old Garage before
\ndispersing by Ijigbo junction in Ado-Ekiti.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Students of tertiary institutions in\u00a0 Ekiti State, today protested against what they described as an attempt by former governor of the State and current Minister of Minerals and Steel Development,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":57974,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-57973","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n