Segun Oni, the Social Democratic Party’s candidate for governor in the June 18 Ekiti State election has filed a contempt lawsuit against Adeniran Tela, the Resident Electoral Commissioner in the state for allegedly disregarding an order of the governorship election tribunal.
According to Mr. Oni, Mr. Tela was the target of the lawsuit because he disobeyed the tribunal’s ruling giving him unrestricted access to the election materials used to conduct the poll.
In a separate appeal sent to INEC Chairman Mahmood Yakubu on August 29, Mr. Oni accused the REC of deliberately attempting to thwart the diligent pursuit of his case at the tribunal, Clariform has learnt.
Owoseeni Ajayi, one of his attorneys, told reporters in Ado Ekiti on Wednesday that the action against the REC was essential because he instructed Mr. Oni to go to the INEC office in Abuja rather than Ado-Ekiti in order to obtain election materials for the purpose of pursuing his case.
Mr. Ajayi argued that the REC’s direction was a clear abridgment of the law because all previous election petition cases that were handled in the state had their election materials issued and checked in the INEC office in Ado Ekiti.
NOTABLE QUOTE
Mr. Ajayi said, “Following the filing of our petition, we requested for (sic) some documents to prosecute our case. We also made case to inspect some election materials, which the Tribunal granted.”
“We were taken aback when a letter dated 23rd August, 2022 personally signed by REC and addressed to the respondent said the party /counsel should write to INEC headquarters, Abuja for the documents/materials as stated in the court order.”
“This letter was most uniformed and contemptuous of the court for the fact that in the meeting held with parties on August 22, 2022 by REC, there was no discussion about the parties writing to INEC headquarters, Abuja because we purely acted on court order.”
“Inspection of election materials was never done in Abuja, but at the state head office. It is therefore contemptuous for the REC to vary the order of the Tribunal by instructing parties to write to INEC office, Abuja. This was strange , unlawful and beyond understanding. It has never happened anywhere.”
Speaking further he added, “It is therefore clear that the REC was acting a script of impunity to frustrate the Petitioner’s case. Nigerians must take note of this dubious impunitous act of INEC’s attempt to derail democracy in Ekiti. The opposition parties are also entitled to their rights under democracy.”
Mr. Ajayi detailed how the Ekiti REC allegedly tried to frustrate the petitioner in the petition titled “Deliberate Attempt to Frustrate Ekiti Petitioner’s Case,” urging the commission to fix the error to protect INEC’s reputation.
However, Mr. Tela has denied the accusations and asserted that he has nothing to fear from the lawsuit.
According to Mr. Tela, the commission and its employees treated all parties fairly, including the SDP, which had leveled numerous charges against him.
He made it clear that he had nothing to hide and had no reason to prevent anyone from obtaining any public document that was in INEC’s possession.
Mr Tela said, “I am not afraid of anything, because we are following the law.”
“I have even directed all our staff to stay away from politics, so I have no reason to be partisan. Ours is to conduct election and the June 18 poll was the best in history. It has earned us accolades and awards.”
“I am using this time to inform all parties that INEC staff in Ekiti are not partisan and have no interest in this petition. But whoever that will get any document from us must be ready to follow all legal procedures.”
Clariform recalls that despite being the winner at the poll and a defendant in the petition, the court had last week given Biodun Oyebanji, the candidate for the All Progressives Congress, permission to also check the election materials.
Mr. Oni had requested that the tribunal declare him the winner after receiving the most legal votes in the election and annul the election owing to egregious irregularities.
