Ekiti poll: Court dismisses arrest warrant against Aluko
An Ekiti State High Court sitting in
Ado Ekiti has dismissed a warrant of arrest issued against a former
Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party in Ekiti, Dr. Temitope Aluko.
A Chief Magistrate’s court in Ado
Ekiti had on February 3 ordered the State Commissioner of Police, Etop
James, to arrest and prosecute Aluko for alleged perjury.
Chief Magistrate Soji Adegboye granted
the order following a motion exparte moved by the state Director of
Public Prosecution, Mr. Gbenga Adaramola.
Aluko had in confessional statements
made to media revealed how the PDP rigged the June 21, 2014 governorship
election for Governor Ayodele Fayose.
He also claimed that President Goodluck Jonathan gave Fayose N4.7bn cash to prosecute the election.
These were contrary to his evidence
before the Ekiti State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal wherein
he stated that the election was free and fair.
The government through the Attorney
General of the state later approached the Ekiti State High Court with a
motion exparte to compel the CP to effect the arrest warrant.
According to an Enrollment of Order
obtained by our corespondent on Friday, Justice John Adeyeye, ruled that
the substantive suit upon which the application was brought was
“incompetent.”
The application was seeking an order of
the Court granting leave for the applicant (AG) to apply for the
issuance of prerogative writ of mandamus to compel the respondent (CP)
to discharge its statutory duty to arrest and investigate Aluko for
alleged perjury and be made to face trial as a result of the
investigation.
The judge stated that the suit was
filed more than three months after Aluko allegedly committed the offence
of perjury when he testified before the election petition tribunal on
November 12, 2014.
Justice Adeyeye said, “This application was brought pursuant to Order 40 of the High Court of Ekiti State Civil Procedure Rules.
“Order 40 Rules (4) provides as
follows: An application for judicial review shall be brought within
three months of the date of occurrence of the subject of application.
“Since Dr. Temitope Aluko was alleged
to have committed the offence of perjury when he testified before the
Election Petition Tribunal on 12/11/2014, the subject matter of the
application is clearly a period of more than three months stipulated by
Order 40 Rule (4).
“The application having been brought
outside the period stipulated by the Rules of this Court, in my humble
view, is incompetent. It should be dismissed. I hereby dismiss it.”
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