Nobody should link Fayose to Aluko’s ordered arrest – Aide

The Special Assistant to the State Governor on Public Communications and New Media, Lere Olayinka, has said that nobody should link Governor Ayodele Fayose, with the arrest order issued by a Chief Magistrate’s Court in Ado Ekiti, the state capital, on the former Secretary of the Peoples’ Democratic Party, PDP, in the state, Dr. Temitope Aluko, over alleged perjury.

Dr. Temitope Aluko

A Chief Magistrate Court in Ado-Ekiti, the Ekiti State capital had earlier today ordered the State Commissioner of Police to arrest Dr Aluko, upon a Motion Ex-parte number MAD/10cm/2016, filed by the Ekiti State Government against him and the State Commissioner of Police, pursuant to Section 117 of the Criminal Code Law, Cap C16, law of Ekiti State 2012, Section 79 of the Ekiti State Administration of Criminal Justice Law 2014 and Section 23 (D) of the Magistrates’ Courts Law 2014.

The media aide to the Governor explained that the arrest order came as a result of allegations of perjury, stating that the embattled former PDP chief had earlier testified before the tribunal that the election that brought in Fayose was devoid of irregularities.

He however called for the course of justice to be followed strictly on the matter, stressing that “We should not run a society where somebody will go to court last year to say something and come back to say something else.”

While exonerating Fayose from instigating the arrest warrant, he explained, “a lawyer in Ado Ekiti here, Olowulafe Sunday, wrote a petition to the Attorney General of Ekiti state and you should know that the Attorney General of Ekiti also has the power to prosecute an offender.

“So based on the petition of that lawyer, there is no how the Attorney General of a state can prosecute crime without the police first investigating what was alleged. It is on this basis that the Attorney General approached the court to give an order that the police should arrest and investigate him (Aluko) so that he can be prosecuted.”

Aluko had last week claimed that what transpired in the 2014 governorship election in the state was a high level of manipulation, claiming that the military was used to rig the election in favour of Fayose. He also alleged that former President, Goodluck Jonathan gave $37m to Fayose to use in prosecuting the election.