THE All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ekiti State has alleged that the government White Paper on the probe panel report on former Governor Kayode Fayemi’s administration is a political tool aimed at nailing Dr Kayode Fayemi.
The APC, in a statement on Tuesday, described the white paper, which recommended the banning of Dr Fayemi, the current Minister of Mines and Steel Development, as “a desperate bid by Governor Ayodele Fayose to embarrass the former governor.”
In the statement by the publicity secretary of the party, Taiwo Olatunbosun, APC attributed the government’s action to Governor Ayodele Fayose and said it was “a failed desperation that cannot stand the test of judicial scrutiny in both form and content.”
The party said “both the panel and white paper are a kangaroo stunt to nail Fayemi,” saying “the verdict would not stand in the face of illegality that went into the exercise.”
The party blasted Governor Fayose for allegedly trying to frustrate Fayemi politically, saying “his so-called White Paper is not only laughable but also a disgrace to all Ekiti people home and abroad with the way that Fayose has taken ignorance, vendetta and debauchery to a ridiculous level.
“We had expected his Attorney General to have advised him that only a competent court of law can bar Nigerians from holding public office under the Nigerian Constitution.”
APC alleged that “a situation where Fayose assembled PDP members and pliable civil servants as a panel with a strict directive to indict Fayemi at all costs and thereafter issue a White Paper banning him from holding public office cannot hold water in a society where the law works.”
Fayose had set up a judicial commission of enquiry to probe Fayemi’s administration between 2010 and 2014.
Fayemi kicked against the composition of the panel in court, claiming partisanship of members he alleged were PDP members.