Aisha Buhari adds to Fayose’s Woes with Defamation Suit

Mrs Aisha Buhari, Wife of Mr. President has filed a defamation suit against Mr Ayodele Fayose, Ekiti state governor adding to the woes of the Governor.

Mrs Buhari is challenging the governor for insisting that she was indicted for corruption in a case involving convicted former United States lawmaker, Williams Jefferson.

Recall that in June, Fayose while reacting to the freezing order on his personal accounts by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) accused President Muhammadu Buhari of a selective corruption fight  adding  that the president’s wife was also corrupt.

The governor, in what appeared to be an error, referred to the scandal as the Halliburton corruption case. Meanwhile, the Halliburton case is different from the Williams Jefferson scandal.

Mrs Buhari subsequently warned the governor to retract his statement or face legal action but Fayose maintained that he was right.

Premium Times reports that it has exclusively obtained the court summons dated July 20, 2016.

According to The Punch, Governor Fayose’s lawyer, Mr Mike Ozekhome (SAN) could not be reached on Wednesday night to confirm whether his client had been served the summons or not.

Ozekhome’s telephone number had reportedly been switched off.

It is not yet clear how Fayose would react to the legal action. As governor, the 1999 Nigerian constitution shields Fayose from both civil and criminal proceedings in court.

Section 308 of the constitution which applies to persons holding the office of president, vice-president, governor and deputy governor provides:

Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in this Constitution, but subject to subsection (2) of this section –

(a) no civil or criminal proceedings shall be instituted or continued against a person to whom this section applies during his period of office;

(b) a person to whom this section applies shall not be arrested or imprisoned during that period either in pursuance of the process of any court or otherwise; and

(c) no process of any court requiring or compelling the appearance of a person to whom this section applies, shall be applied for or issued: Provided that in ascertaining whether any period of limitation has expired for the purpose of any proceedings against a person to whom this section applies, no account shall be taken of his period of office.