The debacle in Ekiti By Reuben Abati ON February 17, 2009, the Court of Appeal sitting in Ilorin determined the April 2007 Gubernatorial election petition in Ekiti State. The court ruled in favour of Kayode Fayemi, candidate of the Action Congress and appellant in the matter, and ordered a re-run in 65 wards covering 10 local councils in the state. The results of the Gubernatorial election in the six remaining local councils in the state were upheld, and this gave Fayemi an advantage of 11, 000 plus votes over his PDP rival who had already spent 21 months in office as Governor of Ekiti State. Even before that ruling, there had been much tension in Ekiti State, with the House of Assembly having been turned into a war zone, and supporters of the two contending political parties constantly clashing, often violently with each other. On Saturday, April 25, the re-run elections were held, but it was akin to a state...
Read the full article.