For the second time since he became the governor of Ekiti State, Engr. Segun Oni put aside his immunity and entered the witness box to give evidence at the ongoing Elections Petitions Tribunal in the State today, stating that he won the April 25 rerun governorship election “fair and square” and that the tribunal should dismiss the Action Congress (AC) petition for lacking merit.

Governor Oni, who was the Respondent Witness (RW67) at the resumed hearing of the petition filed by the Action Congress (AC) governorship candidate, Dr. Kayode Fayemi against his (Oni) declaration as winner of the April 25 rerun governorship election, told the tribunal that he was duly declared and returned as the governor of Ekiti State, having satisfactorily met the constitutional requirement of scoring the majority vote cast on April 14, 2007, April 25, 2009 and May 5, 2009.

The governor, who denied Fayemi’s allegations that he (Oni) collaborated with Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to manipulate the results of the elections, adding that; “in truth, Dr. Kayode Fayemi lost the election.”

During cross examination by Chief Anthony Adeniyi, counsel to the petitioners on where he went after casting his vote on April 25, 2009, Governor Oni told the tribunal that; “I went straight to my hotel room at Celiat Hotel after casting my vote at Unit 006, Town-Hall, Ogbonyin, Ifaki Ekiti.”

When Adeniyi pointed to the duplicate of exhibit 116 (INEC Form EC8A for Unit 006) as being blank, the governor quickly retorted; “I want to crave your indulgence, My Lords. This is a discipline I had spent two decades on, I mean in the area of documents. Most especially carbon-copies. As carbon-copies multiply, the first would be less clear, the second would also be less clear. The weight of the pressure of the pen will determine how the duplicate will be. If there is no alteration and there is a duplicate, and it is not clear, so long as it is not altered, you can confirm from the original.

“As far as duplication is concern, it will continue to be fainter and fainter.”

Adeniyi also said to Oni that; “Take a look at exhibit 116, the column designed for the signature of the Presiding officer is not there,” the governor replied; “Do I need to also show him (Adeniyi) that there are some traces of ink here, which means there is an impression on the duplicate. And this also means that it was signed.”

Governor Oni also said that having realized the overwhelming support he enjoys from the people of Ido-Osi Local Government, the AC had planned to discredit the elections in the Local Government long before the election was held.

The governor noted that AC’s sinister plot eventually resulted in the destruction of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) office in Ido-Osi Local Government on April 25, 2009 by agents of the party in order to forestall the collation of results from the Ward Collation Centers.

“I am aware that the Deputy Speaker of the Ekiti State House of Assembly, who is also a prominent member of the 2nd Petitioner and an associate of the 1st Petitioner, Saliu Adeoti, was arrested in connection with the incident,” Governor Oni said.

Governor Oni, who faulted reports of supposed independent observers being brandished by the AC as reflective of the state of affairs during the elections said in his Statement on Oath that the so-called observers were not only partisan and sympathetic to the cause of the AC but were also paid in several instances to write their false and misleading reports on the elections.

“I recall that the Nigerian Television Authority at a point in time on the 25th of April 2009 broadcast images from the state collation centre. I remember that Deacon Dele Adesina when asked during a question and answer session to identify himself stated that he was an ‘independent observer’. However, this same person appeared as Counsel to the 1st Petitioner during the proceeding before the Election Tribunal and the Court of Appeal after the first election. He is again listed as a Counsel to the Petitioners.

Describing Fayemi as a first timer in the State’s politics, Governor Oni, who dwelled on the ‘Home boy Advantage’ said; “Before I contested the elections, I was for successive years personally responsible for the provision of free JAMB forms and free coaching classes for eligible candidates in the entire Ekiti State as well as the provision of scholarships for all eligible indigenes of the State. Over 8,000 indigenes of the State benefitted in April, 2007 from the free JAMB Forms programme which I sponsored.

“Unlike the 1st Petitioner (Fayemi) whose candidature in the elections was essentially his first major participation in elections in Ekiti State, I was a leader of the PDP in Ifaki Ekiti in 2003 when electorate in Ifaki Wards I and II voted overwhelmingly for the PDP despite the fact that no indigene of Ido-Osi was seeking elective office in the election.”

When Adeniyi mentioned names of some party candidates who lost elections in their hometown, suggesting that voting in Ekiti does not hang on the issue of Home Boy Advantage, Governor Oni disagreed with him, saying that; “I want to ask for permission to explain to My Lords. In the last election, only two parties were prominent. Therefore, in the perception and estimation of the people, those were the two parties that had any chance of winning at all.

“Despite this, Olaseinde of the Alliance for Democracy (AD) scored more than 80 percent of the total votes in the two wards that constitute his town. That is Home Boy sympathy.

“Despite this, Ogunbolude came first in his local government Ise/Orun even though he did not come third or fourth in the overall election.

“That is why I believe that in the ward that Fayemi came from, he controlled more than 85 percent of the votes despite his newness to politics.”

Governor Oni further explained that if any candidate contest under a party that is perceived to be weak, a lot of people in his hometown may consider voting for such person as a waste of their votes. He added that if a “son of the soil” contests election in a party that is considered very strong, his people will vote for him.

 

blog comments powered by Disqus