Wife of Nigeria’s President, Aisha Buhari, has maintained that there is no going back on prosecuting the Ekiti State governor, Ayodele Fayose, for claiming she was the one mentioned in the Halliburton scandal.
Mrs Buhari had threatened to sue the governor if he did not retract the statement, but the governor stood his ground.
This forced the President’s wife to institute a legal action against Fayose, but the governor’s counsel, Mike Ozekhome (SAN), pointed out that his client cannot be prosecuted in court because he is protected by immunity. He advised the president’s wife to wait till 2018, when the governor would be out of office.
But in her statement of claims filed before an FCT High Court in the defamation suit challenging Governor Fayose’s allegation linking her with the Halliburton bribery scandal in the United States, Mrs Buhari stressed Fayose cannot hide under the cover of immunity to avoid prosecution from several alleged criminal offences.
In the statement filed by her counsel, Ismaila Alasa and Mary Ekpere Eta, Mrs Buhari cited criminal charges on the murder of one Tunde Omojola, diversion of N1.2bn state funds in 2004 and the invasion of the Ekiti High Court with thugs who allegedly beat up a judge in 2014 as some of the governor’s ‘indiscretions’.
“The first defendant (Fayose) is a well-known coward who is scared of facing the consequences of his numerous indiscretions and sheer acts of criminality by timidly hiding under the cloak of immunity to want to evade prosecution,” she averred.
Meanwhile, Justice Olukayode Adeniyi has approved the service of the court papers to Fayose and his two aides- his chief press secretary, Idowu Adelusi and his special adviser on New Media, Lere Olayinka at the Government House, Ado Ekiti as the legal dispute proceeded in the week.
The judge directed service of the processes on the defendants by DHL courier service and publication in an online media platform.
Aisha Buhari, who has lined up 205 witnesses against Fayose, is seeking N5bn as damages over the statements.
Fayose had in a media session on June 20, alleged that one Aisha Buhari, who allegedly transferred $170, 000 to USA congressman, William Jefferson, who was convicted in November 2009 over the bribery scandal, was the president’s wife.
Full hearing is expected to commence after the court’s vacation.
