Court gives Fayose go-ahead to probe Fayemi

An Ado Ekiti High Court presided over by Justice Lekan Ogunmoye yesterday said the Judicial Commission of Inquiry instituted by the government to probe former governor Kayode Fayemi between 2010 and 2014 was properly constituted.

The judge stated this while delivering judgment in the suit filed by the former governor against the constitution of the commission.

Fayemi had sought the court’s prayer to set aside and perpetually restrain the commission from sitting.

But justifying the constitution of the commission, Ogunmoye said Governor Ayodele Fayose had exclusive rights to set up commission of inquiry without the prompting of the state assembly.

The court set aside all the reliefs sought by Fayemi through his lawyer, Mr. Akingbade Ogunmoyela seeking an injunction to restrain the state government and the Judicial Commission of Enquiry set up by Fayose to probe his administration from going ahead with the exercise.

The Minister for Steel and Mineral Resources Development also alleged that all the members of the panel were the governor’s apologists, adding that there was no way the panel would be fair to him, against which Justice Ogunmoye said Fayose acted pursuant to Section 2 (1) of the Commission Inquiry Law Cap C10 Laws of Ekiti State.

Fayose had in May this year constituted a judicial panel led by a former acting chief judge of the state, Justice Silas Oyewole, to probe Fayemi’s administration between October 2010 and October 2014 over alleged financial misappropriation.

Reacting after the judgment, Fayemi’s counsel, Mr. Akingbade Ogunmoyela said the court had agreed that the Assembly had no right to direct the governor to set up the inquiry, adding that he would not know whether or not his client would appeal the judgment.