Court assumes power to try case
Panicky lawyers, litigants and officials ran out of the court room, screaming as scores of thugs hurled missiles at them.
Some ran into their offices and shut their doors; others hid under tables, away from the rampaging thugs.
The police, apparently overwhelmed by the violence, looked helpless as windows were smashed and furniture broken.
That was the scene yesterday at the High Court in Ado-Ekiti, the Ekiti State capital, where Mr. Justice Isaac Ogunyemi ruled that the court had jurisdiction to hear the integrity case against Mr. Ayodele Fayose, the governor-elect and candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the June 21 election.
The hoodlums yanked off branches of a tree within the court premises to lash perceived opposition figures at the proceedings, which had got half-way before Mr. Justice Ogunyemi sought a brief break to resume sitting at noon.
The hoodlums, some of whom had earlier engaged the security officials in the courtroom in arguments over what they saw as impartiality, said the security agents barred their party men from entering the courtroom and sitting down while the hearing lasted but allowed the opposition.
The argument soon snowballed into full scale confrontation. People were shouting and people perceived to be obstructing the thugs’ aspirations were dragged on the courtroom’s floor and dealt blows, using all manner of objects.
Judges, Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SANs), lawyers, journalists, court officials and magistrates ran for dear lives, hiding in offices, court registries, under chairs, tables, other places and objects which could serve as temporary hideouts, as the hoodlums assaulted defenceless people.
As thugs went from office to office to seek out perceived opposition members who they dealt with without resraint, the police, who thinned both in number and significance, watched helplessly. Shots were fired by those no one could ascertain but these could not deter the rampaging band who had reduced the court rooms to a rendezvous of mayhem and unrest.
Mr. Justice Ogunyemi became a target of the hoodlums, who openly condemned his ruling.
They sang songs in Yoruba to condemn the said ruling and threatened to deal with him (Mr. Justice Ogunyemi) if accessible. The intervention of a special group of about six officers from the Riot Squad however assured a safe escape for Mr. Justice Ogunyemi, who all along had been holed up in his office. His (Mr. Justice Ogunyemi’s) escape around 12:55 pm effectively halted proceedings for the day.
Mr. Justice Ogunyemi had declared that he had jurisdiction to entertain the cases of the Citizens Popular Party (CPP) and that of Adeniyi Ajakaye and others, which challenged the eligibility of Mr. Ayo Fayose to contest the June 21 election.
In a ruling on Fayose’s and PDP’s preliminary objection, Mr. Justice Ogunyemi maintained that the respondent had not judiciously discharged the responsibility under the law of evidence to furnish the court with sufficient evidence upon which the relief sought by the defendant applicant could be based.
Mr. Justice Ogunyemi also declared both the CPP and the PDP as non juristic persons who could not sue or be sued. He, however, submitted that striking out the names of the second claimant and second defendant did not affect the relief sought by the claimant on eligibility pursuant to Order 13, Rule 16 (1) of the High Court Civil Procedure Rules of Ekiti State.
He also dismissed the application of the respondent, which challenged his ruling of June 6 in an ex-parteapplication on the abridgment of time within which the respondent could file his reply, declaring that the said order the defendant sought to set aside was not obtained fraudulently as contended by the defendants.
Mr. Justice Ogunyemi dismissed PDP’s application, saying the court cannot set aside its June 6 ruling and that the time frame had been overtaken by events, which he (Justice Ogunyemi) maintained had rendered the whole exercise a mere academic exercise.
The Ekiti State government condemned the attack on judges, lawyers , litigants and workers.
The government, which viewed the invasion of the hoodlums believed to be supporters of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as “an unwarranted desecration of the temple of justice”, also blamed the escalation of the crisis on the nonchalant attitude displayed by policemen at the court premises.
The government, in a statement said it amounted to a barbaric act of epic proportion for a group of people to gang up to invade a court in a bid to avert hearing in a case brought for determination before a judge.
This attempt to subvert the rule of law and throw the Ekiti into a state of confusion and violence is most condemnable.
It urged security agencies to ensure that the perpetrators of the heinous act are brought to book.
The government said it would do everything possible to ensure that the full weight of the law is meted out to anyone found perpetrating violence in the state just as it assured members of the public of adequate security for their lives and properties.
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