From: WOLE BALOGUN, Ado-Ekiti
Ekiti State Governor and Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Governors’ Forum, Ayo Fayose, has urged the judiciary to continue to be courageous and see to it that anyone, irrespective of office, flouting court orders are put behind bars.
He was apparently referring to continued disobedience to orders for the release of leader of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN), otherwise known as Shi’ites sect, Ibrahim Zakzaky and his wife, Malama Zeenah Ibraheem.
The governor, who praised the judiciary for standing firm in defence of the rule of law, said; “The Federal Government must prove to the whole world that Ibrahim Zakzaky is still alive by releasing him as ordered by the court.”
Speaking through his Special Assistant on Public Communications and New Media, Lere Olayinka, Governor Fayose said the filing of notice of contempt proceedings against the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and the Director General of Department of State Services (DSS) over the disobedience of a court order for Zakzaky’s release was a step in the right direction.
Justice Gabriel Kolawole of the Federal High Court, Abuja had on December 2, 2016 awarded a cumulative sum of N50 million to the Zakzakys and ordered the AGF and IGP to provide him a new accommodation and security in any part of Kaduna or Northern region that they prefer within 45 days, but 60 days after, the judgment is yet to be obeyed.
Governor Fayose, who described as wicked and inhuman, the continued detention of Zakzaky and his wife since December 2015, after the murder of over 300 of his followers; said; “It is even more ridiculous that the DSS claimed that its refusal to release the cleric and his wife was to protect them.
The governor said; “Obviously, the DSS must be hiding something on this Zakzaky matter because it does not make sense for an agency of government to keep someone in detention for over one year and claim that he is being protected. Against what are they protecting a man who wants his freedom?”
Governor Fayose reminded Nigerians that he had said that the federal government won’t obey the judgment; saying that the APC led federal government was the number one law breaker in the country.
He said; “Like Justice Kolawole’s judgment, which ordered the release of Zakzaky and his wife is for posterity, committing those disobeying the judgment to prison will also be on record even if they don’t obey it, and when one day, sanity returns to our body polity, Nigerians will have it on record those who ruled their country like a fiefdom.”
Describing the continuous disobedience to court orders by the federal government as direct invitation to anarchy, the governor said; “Even the military still obeyed court judgements but here we are with a democratically elected government that holds our constitution with contempt.
“The judiciary must therefore have to remain steadfast in its uphold of the rule of law, by punishing those treating the court with contempt so as to save democracy from being destroyed by those presently holding the country by the jugular and do not want anyone that is not in the same political camp with them to exist.”
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