THE Ekiti State government has insisted that it will go ahead with its perjury case against a former secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state, Dr Tope Aluko, saying it will not withdraw the matter despite the reconciliation between Governor Ayodele Fayose and Aluko.
The Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr Owoseeni Ajayi, who stated this when he addressed newsmen in Ado Ekiti, on Tuesday, also appealed to the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, to continue to guide President Muhammadu Buhari, to forestall what he said was “increasing human rights abuses and gross violation of court orders in the polity.”
Ajayi said: “The apology of Aluko to Governor Fayose was personal. We can’t because of this interventionist apology collapse all our cases. Government is not run that way.
“We can’t abandon our responsibilities as a state just because someone apologised to our governor on a case that was already pending in court. They are not fresh cases and we will pursue it to a logical conclusion.”
The state government had instituted a case of perjury against Aluko a few days after he went on the television to allege that the June 21, 2014 governorship election in the state was rigged.
The state government had gone to court on the strength of the fact that Aluko served as the principal defence witness at the election petition tribunal.
The court had granted a warrant of arrest against Aluko and had ordered the Commissioner of Police to arrest him.
He lambasted the Inspector General of Police, Mr Solomon Arase, for his alleged refusal to carry out the arrest of Aluko and for allegedly providing him with security cover.
He said the state would file for an order of mandamus to compel the IGP to carry out the order in due course.
In a related development, the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state has said that the rapprochement of Aluko and Fayose had changed nothing.
The APC in a statement by its Publicity Secretary in the state, Chief Taiwo Olatunbosun, said: “The purported truce between Governor Fayose and Aluko will not alter anything on the revelations so far on the probe of the June 21, 2014 governorship election fraud.”
He said the reported truce between Fayose and Aluko would not alter anything in the revelations at the probe panel, saying “it was mischievous to insinuate that Aluko was lured by APC to lie against Fayose and the military officers who were dismissed after they were found guilty by the Army probe panel.”
Meanwhile, the Chairman, Senate Committee on Air Force, Duro Faseyi, has described as “an insult, disrespect and a ruse to Ekiti State and its people,” the settlement of the crisis between Governor Ayodele Fayose and a former secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state, Dr Tope Aluko.
Tribune