The Lucky Aiyedatiwa Campaign Organisation Foot Soldiers Independent Council (LACO-FSIC) on Saturday described a statement credited to the Ondo State governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Mr. Agboola Ajayi, who reportedly accused Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa of influencing a court judgement, as reckless, defamatory, and an attempt to bring the Nigerian judiciary to ridicule.
An Akure High Court had over the weekend nullified the creation of 33 Local Council Development Areas (LCDAs) by the administration of the late former Governor Rotimi Akeredolu, on the grounds that the creation was inchoate, as it was effected in Ibadan, Oyo State, and not in Ondo State.
Following the verdict, Ajayi was widely reported in the media as saying Aiyedatiwa was behind the judgement of the High Court.
But reacting, the governor ‘s Campaign Council in a statement by its State Director of Information, Mr. Kayode Fasua, stated that it was lamentable that Ajayi, by the statements credited to him, had lowered the bar for himself and his party, in the quest to become the next governor of Ondo State.
“While Agboola Ajayi has every right to express his opinion on a court verdict, he is not licensed to inpugn on the integrity of the sitting judge and the judicial institution, by claiming Governor Aiyedatiwa had influenced the judge to pass his judgement.
“We had waited for three days in the hope that Ajayi would deny the story or claim that he was quoted out of context, but alas, he regaled in silence, thus affirming that he said that the governor influenced the judge to pass a wrong judgement, which he considered the dissolution of the 33 LCDAs.
“Therefore, we are calling on the judiciary to take up Agboola Ajayi and put him on trial, to produce evidence of how Aiyedatiwa influenced the judge; otherwise, he should be sentenced accordingly,” the LACO-FSIC urged.
The Campaign Council meanwhile called on stakeholders across all political parties to rein in their supporters in all local government areas and conduct awareness programmes for them to eschew political violence and play the game according to the rule, as campaigns begin officially.
“As for us in the All Progressives Congress, under the leadership of Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa, we have been preaching peace and our supporters have keyed in, and this is expected from our ‘brothers’ and ‘sisters’ in other political parties,” Fasua admonished in the statement.
(E-signed)
Kayode Fasua,
State Information Director, LACO-FSIC
