Party decries bribery charge against tribunal members
As disputing parties continue to accuse members of
the Ekiti State Election Petitions Tribunal of taking bribes, the state
chapter of the Conference of Nigerian Political Parties has warned
against the spreading of unfounded allegations.
The party’s chairman Tunji Ogunlola and its
secretary, Victor Akinola, said yesterday in Ado Ekiti that these
unfounded accusations could distract the five-man panel hearing the
petition.
The state government had alleged that a former
governor of Lagos State tried to sway the panel members with financial
inducement to favour the Action Congress.
“ We are urging the panel to pay no attention to
any disruption aimed at its way, we are also begging all the parties in
the state to desist from any action capable of worsening the tension in
the state,” the party said.
The party said it views with disdain the wild
allegations of inducements for tribunal members, which is capable of
heating up the polity unreasonably.
“It is our opinion that Ekiti people don’t need
these diversionary accusations at this period; rather, all parties must
await the judgment of the tribunal and depend on the evidence they have
presented to prove their case,” the statement said.
Strange attacks
The party also criticised the alleged
assassination attempt on the life of Kayode Fayemi, the gubernatorial
candidate of the Action Congress, by suspected thugs. Mr Fayemi is
challenging the election of the state governor, Segun Oni, at the
elections tribunal.
It noted that this kind of attack was strange to
Ekiti and appealed to those behind it to stop in the interest of peace
and justice.
“We were all in this state when Ekiti State,
twice, won the most peaceful state in Nigeria award and we wonder what
went wrong that we have now almost become the most violent state in the
country. We are supposed to build on the enviable award of a peaceful
state and not to negate it,” the party said.
It expressed hope that the judges will do their job fairly so that all the tension in the state can be resolved.
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