We will jail ex-PDP scribe for perjury: , says Ekiti AG
Olakiitan Victor in Ado Ekiti
Former Secretary of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ekiti State, Dr. Temitope Aluko, has denied reconciling with the state Governor, Mr. Ayo Fayose, saying the parley between them was an organised propaganda to stain his image and malign his integrity.
But state government has vowed to go ahead with its perjury charges against the former party scribe.
Addressing journalists in Lagos on Tuesday, Aluko said the parley was a script aimed at misinforming Nigerians.
The former PDP scribe, who recanted his earlier stance, said: “One fact remains clear, there is nowhere that I, Temitope Aluko, refuted anything I have earlier said before Nigerians and the whole world about the manipulations that characterised the 2014 governorship election in Ekiti State.”
Expressing displeasure over the purported reconciliation meeting, he said: “I was shocked to see Fayose walk into the meeting at this point. I won’t want to bore you with the drama and face-off that ensued between me and Fayose inside the meeting. It is worthy of note that it was at this point that my wife came into the meeting to inform me that she noticed the presence of journalists downstairs and said ‘there is a problem’ but it was Fayose that interrupted her and said ‘madam, there is no problem.”
He added that “at that point, I became enraged and decided to leave the place but I noticed the governor rushing after me downstairs in a gestapo manner. My wife was already fidgeting and almost crying and suddenly I could not find her around me. I immediately realised that I needed to yield to his (Fayose) instruction of facing the press because of the safety of my family.”
He, however, appealed to Nigerians to disregard the peace treaty, saying it was a tactical error on his part.
Meanwhile, in spite of the alleged reconciliation between Fayose and Aluko, the state government has insisted that it won’t withdraw its perjury charges against the estranged secretary.
Also, the state Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Owoseeni Ajayi, has appealed to the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, to continue to guide President Muhammadu Buhari, to forestall increasing human rights abuses and gross violation of court’s orders in the polity.
At a press conference in Ado Ekiti yesterday, Ajayi said the state government won’t collapse the case of perjury it has instituted at an Ado Ekiti High Court, in spite of Aluko’s perceived reconciliation with Fayose.
The state government had instituted a case of perjury against Aluko shortly after an open confession that the election that brought Fayose to government was massively rigged, after serving as the principal witness at the election petition tribunal.
The court had granted a warrant of arrest against Aluko, ordering the
State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Etop James, to arrest the embattled PDP secretary for allegedly lying under oath.
Lampooning the Inspector General of Police (IG), Mr. Solomon Arase, on his refusal to carry out the arrest as well as allegedly providing Aluko with security cover, Ajayi said the state would file for an order of mandamus, compelling the IG to carry out the order in due course.
According to him, “The Aluko’s apology to 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.”
Ajayi urged the Attorney General of the Federation to counsel the federal government on the alleged brazen impunity being exhibited by the Department of State Services (DSS) and abuse of court orders by the security agency.
He said the case involving the arrest of a member of House of Assembly, Hon Afolabi Akanni, vividly conveyed a signal of alleged impunity in the system, appealing to the AGF to advise Buhari’s government to take prompt action to prevent the country from sliding into anarchy.
“Akanni was released after 18 days in the DSS custody despite March 11 order of the federal high court in Ado Ekiti that ordered his release. As I speak with you, the DSS has not come to court once to file its case as a case of protection of fundamental human rights filed against it. This was a gross abuse of court orders and constitutionality.
“On the notorious issue of Aluko who is enjoying DSS, police and military protection despite a court order, the matter has been brought to the notice of the Attorney General for his appropriate intervention about this impunity.
“The evidence given by Aluko led to the premature sack and compulsory retirement of some military officers from the army for carrying out their constitutional roles during the governorship poll,” he said.
Meanwhile, All Progressives Congress(APC) has said the purported truce between Fayose and Aluko will not alter anything on the revelations so far on the probe of the June 21, 2014, governorship election alleged fraud.
The party’s reaction followed insinuations that the weekend peace meeting between the duo was a blow to the just conclusion of the military probe into an election in which the federal government deployed the military and cash to influence the result in Fayose’s favour as revealed in the secretly recorded audio tape by army Captain Sagir Koli.
The state APC Publicity Secretary, Taiwo Olatunbosun, said in a statement yesterday that the reported truce between Fayose and Aluko would not alter anything in the revelation at the probe panel.
He said 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.
Dismissing allegation that Aluko was lured by APC to implicate Fayose and the soldiers, Olatunbosun explained: “This is purely an internal matter within PDP, so APC has no hand in it. The reported meeting between Fayose and Aluko brokered by PDP leaders has proven conclusively that the latter is a full member of PDP.
