Oni’s suit, an afterthought, says Fayemi

Ekiti State Governor Kayode Fayemi has filed a notice of preliminary objection against the suit filed by ousted Governor Segun Oni.

  In the suit, Oni is seeking a reversal of the judgment which sacked him.

The Court of Appeal, on October 15, last year, nullified Oni’s election and ordered that Fayemi be sworn in, having proved that he scored the majority of votes cast at the 2007 governorship and 2009 supplementary elections.

Fayemi described Oni’s suit, filed five months after his ouster, as “an afterthought and an attempt to subject the judges that sat on the Ekiti Appeal Panel to unwarranted odium and opprobrium.”

He said the verdict “reflects the wishes of Ekiti people, who voted him into power.”

Fayemi said: “Oni is a bad loser who is not willing to honourably accept defeat. He returned to court, after he had gone to church for thanksgiving on a successful tenure in office.”

He prayed the court to dismiss Oni’s suit, saying: “This court lacks the jurisdiction to entertain the motion filed by the appellants, as it cannot alter the effect of its own decision.

“The filing of the motion is vexatious, oppressive and a flagrant abuse of court process. The condition precedent for setting aside of court’s judgment, ex debito justiciae, has not been fulfilled by the applicants.

“The motion is an invidious and despicable invitation of this honourable court to sit on appeal over its judgment.

“Allegations of bias or likelihood of bias levelled on the court is not a recognised ground for setting aside a judgment delivered by that court.

“Close affinity between any justice(s) and one of the parties is not a ground for setting aside a judgment. Judgment obtained by fraud is not akin and cannot be equated with judgment that is allegedly induced by bias or close affinity.

“The motion of the applicants is strange and unknown to law.” 

Fayemi accused Oni and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) of concocting false stories against justices of the appeal panel “in a desperate bid to desecrate the judiciary and achieve their worthless aspirations to reclaim their purported mandate.”