Ekiti Election: Tribunal Grants Application for Change of Venue Due to Alleged insecurity

........... As PDP, APC trade Words Over Alleged Attack on PDP Lawmakers, Members

The Tribunal sitting in Ado Ekiti over the July 14 governorship poll has granted the application made orally by Adebayo Adelodun, the lead counsel to the Peoples Democratic party (PDP) and candidate of the PDP, Olusola Kolapo Eleka,  that the venue of the hearing of the petition been shifted to another venue outside Ekiti.

Adelodun made the application based on his observation that a crowd of sticks and cudgels wielding party thugs and unruly crowd had besieged the entrance of the court and harassing key individuals entering the venue.

 In a related development, lawmakers of the Ekiti State House of Assembly, including Dayo Akinleye alleged that some persons suspected   to be thugs of the All Progressive Congress (APC), attacked them and shot severally.

According to the Chairman, House Committee on Information, Samuel Omotosho, the lawmakers and other members of the PDP were allegedly attacked by a mob of the said thugs while they were making entry into the court premises. He said the ensuing attack almost led to the killing of Akinleye.

Daily Sun observed that a crowd of commercial drivers, party supporters wielding sticks crowded the basement of the fly over bridge in front of the court premises as early as 9am. Many of them were holding long canes while others wore vests that showed they belong to drivers, Okada riders and artisans' unions among others.

But reacting to the allegation, the new state chairman of APC, Omotosho Paul Ayodele, said: " The allegations is unfounded and that is so unfortunate. The area where they claimed to have been attacked is occupied by those who are mere spectators who just came around to see what is happening at the court. So for anybody to now conclude that they are APC is unfair.

" So for PDP lawmakers to say that APC members attacked that is false and unfounded.  Our members are very peaceful and peace loving. We are very disciplined people. Besides, we know that the PDP will fail in this exercise so why should we attack them when we know they would fail."

  Meanwhile, in what appeared like reporting the alleged attack to the Tribunal, Adelodun said: "The counsel to the PDP and its candidate would have been prevented from entering on our way to the court this morning.  We were accosted by stick wielding thugs , to say we were scared is an understatement and we were held for several minutes until a senior security man intervened. This happened in spite of security men in our vehicle and we were subjected to this scary treatment, " he said, asking for a shift of venue of the sitting to another state, preferably Abuja.

Reacting to Adelodun's application for a change of venue for the sitting, counsel to the Independent National Electoral  Commission, ( INEC), Charles Edosomwam, while a

agreeing with Adelodun, drew the attention of the Tibunal to the crowd weilding sticks and other objects who had besieged the entrance leading to the court under the flyover.

He said: " the petitioners' expressed anxiety should be taken note of for the security of all of us. Categorically speaking, I have no objection to the application by my learned friend to have the venue moved elsewhere."

Also, supporting the application, Akinlolu Olujimi, (SAN), who is counsel to APC, said: " the insecurity has happened before, some four years ago my partner and now governor of Ondo state , Akeredolu was hauled with stones and the case has to be moved to Abuja for the safety of all parties.

" I saw the unruly crowd holding sticks under the long bridge. I wholeheartedly support the application to have a neutral venue for the sitting and I also support that Abuja is an alternative venue for us it is all in the interest of all of us.

Finalizing their support for the application, Lateef Fagbemi, counsel to Fayemi, said: "This morning one of my junior colleagues called to advise that we should be careful while approaching the court as we were also molested on our way.

" As I was approaching the court this morning I saw evidence of those peoples wielding sticks and cudgels. The issue of security is not a matter to be trivialised. This is a situation where a change of venue has become inevitable to all of us. No matter how prepared you are, without rest of mind, there is little you can do, "he said.

He also drew the attention of the court to the recent murder of a political stalwart of APC, Bunmi Ojo, using it to substantiate his claim on the alleged insecurity in the state.

Justice Belgore while giving reasons for granting the application for the change of venue in his ruling at about 2:15 pm, said: "We have considered the issue critically and very extensively we are mindful of the consequences of the insecurity , the application is not opposed by any of the counsel of the parties. It is a situation we cannot afford to ignore.  The application is therefore granted on the sole ground of the security of all of us. The venue and date of new relocation to be communicated within the next 48 hours."

 It will be recalled that the PDP and Eleka had challenged INEC's declaration of APC's Fayemi as winner of the poll, leading to the case been brought to the election petition Tribunal.