Group Accuses Fayose Of Manipulating Daramola, Omojola's Murder Cases, Petitions NJC
The Integrity Leadership Organisation, an NGO, has petitioned the National Judicial Council (NJC) over alleged manipulation of the trial of the suspects arrested in the murder of the World Bank consultant, the late Dr Ayodeji Daramola, and the late Tunde Omojola, during Governor Ayodele Fayose's administration between 2005 and 2006 in Ekiti State.
Daramola was murdered in Ijan-Ekiti on August14, 2006 while Omojola was killed during 2005 councillorship election crisis in Ifaki-Ekiti.
In a petition dated June 16, 2017 signed by its Ekiti State Coordinator, Lekan Oyediran, and received in the office of the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Walter Onnoghen, on June 23, 2017, the group said it was writing on behalf of the families of the two deceased men who were murdered during political crises arising from Ekiti State governorship and councillorship contests in the state.
The petition said Fayose was reported in the media between 2005 and 2006 as always harassing Daramola over his governorship ambition that allegedly threatened the governor's second term ambition after PDP leaders, including former President Olusegun Obasanjo, "had endorsed Daramola after public opinions convinced PDP leaders that Fayose was not sellable again after alleged poultry project fraud, attacks on the opposition and unprecedented general insecurity in the state exacerbated by the activities of an alleged Fayose's killer squad as confirmed by SSS Report".
It added that after Fayose's alleged serial threats became unbearable for Daramola, he sought Ekiti monarchs' intervention and police protection, which was granted, but police personnel were never sent to his Ijan-Ekiti and Lagos homes to protect him.
"After serial threats to his life that forced Daramola to run to Ekiti State traditional rulers to save him from Fayose's threats, he was assassinated on August 14, 2006, at his Ijan-Ekiti home," the petition said, noting that after the murder, Fayose's personal aides, including Dayo Okondo and Goke Olatunji, were named by the arrested suspects as those who allegedly hired them to murder the World Bank consultant.
The petition, also copied to the Acting President, Yemi Osinbajo; IGP Ibrahim Idris and Director General of the Department of State Service (DSS), Lawal Daura, including the Chief Judge of Ekiti State, Mr Justice Ayodeji Daramola, pointed out that mid last year, precisely on June 8, 2016, an online publication broke the news of alleged criminal conspiracy to manipulate Daramola and Omojola's murder trial records after the governor allegedly stumbled on the murder investigation records in the office of the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Ajayi Owoseni, and allegedly moved to close the consolidated case through dismissal.
It alleged that the case was secretly filed by the government without the knowledge of the families of the deceased who were the chief complainants and petitioners to the government over the murders.
It also added that the alleged secret trial in which "the chief suspect is also the chief prosecutor" had earlier been concluded with the court striking out the case for want of diligent prosecution, explaining that it was when the case was allegedly being relisted secretly for a fresh hearing for outright dismissal.
The petitions also pointed the attention of the NJC to the inherent travesty of justice in a murder trial in which the chief suspect is also the chief prosecutor in a trial that the families of the deceased, who are also the chief complainants and petitioners, were kept in the dark.
The group urged NJC to step into the matter to stop what it called "a threat to criminal justice system and administration of justice", and that the matter must be investigated to ensure justice for the victims of political killings in Ekiti State between 2005 and 2006.
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