BY ABIODUN NEJO
The family of the late World Bank consultant, Dr Ayodeji Daramola, has petitioned the Inspector General of Police, Idris Ibrahim, to arrest and prosecute the outgoing Governor of Ekiti State, Ayodele Fayose, in the murder of the late technocrat who was assassinated on August 14, 2006 in his Ijan-Ekiti country home.
The petition is coming on the heels ofalleged threat by Fayose to prevent the deceased from contesting the goverorship election of the Ekiti State under the banner of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) at that time.
The petition signed by younger brother of the deceased, Dare Daramola, alleged that Fayose consistently threatened the late Daramola with assailants, including forcing the deceased to renounce his governorship ambition on radio for several days.
This, he alleged was because the then Governor Fayose saw Daramola as a threat to his second term ambition after PDP leaders, including former President Olusegun Obasanjo, had endorsed Daramola to succeed Fayose in the 2007 election.
The petition explained that after Daramola renounced his ambition, assailants invaded his home on August 14, 2006 and killed him and suspects arrested named Fayose’s personal aides, as the sponsors of the murder.
According to the petitioner, Ekiti State government led by Segun Oni arraigned the suspects in court, but that the chains of political crises in the state stalled the prosecution of the suspects.
The family also claimed that upon assumption of office by one of the prime suspects in the murder, Governor Fayose, the case was listed for trial and it was struck out by the Ekiti State High Court, Ado-Ekiti, in alleged secret trial, but thereafter, having realised that striking out the case would not stop future trial, Fayose in alleged cahoots with some lawyers sought the relisting of both Daramola and Omojola’s cases for a fresh joint trial for dismissal in alleged secret trial.
The family explained that it was at the point of re-listing the case for fresh joint trial for dismissal that good Samaritans among the legal officers in the State High Court leaked the secret trial plot allegedly masterminded by Fayose to the public, including journalists who published the story.
The petitioner added that three judges of the Ekiti State High Court withdrew from handling the cases after media reported underhand deals to secretly conduct the trial to free the suspects without putting family members of the deceased on notice.
Daramola stated: “Since he (Fayose) will soon lose his immunity and since the matter is still in court as filed by Fayose himself for justice in these murders, we call on the IGP to arrest him immediately as one of the prime suspects in the murders as ruled by the Appeal Court and Supreme Court to face trial over Ekiti murder cases,” Daramola explained.
