Ekiti state Governor-elect Ayodele Fayose on Monday called on the National Judicial Council (NJC) to investigate recent attack on the court and judge.

Fayose told newsmen in Abuja that the council should also investigate the allegation that he beat up a judge, adding that such probe “will expose cans of worms’’.

His denial was corroborated at the weekend by the state attorney general, Wale Fapohunda, who said Justice John Adeyeye, the reportedly beaten by Fayose and his thugs, denied being beaten by Fayose himself. According to Fapohunda, the judge however said it was Fayose that ordered his thugs to beat him, during which his clothes were torn.

But Fayose in his press conference today, wanted the whole matter probed, claiming it was APC propaganda.

He appealed to the NJC, legal officers and Nigerians not to be swayed by the “propaganda launched by the All Progressives Congress (APC), but to look at issues dispassionately’’.

Fayose: denies slapping judge

The governor-elect said that the allegation that he was fomenting trouble in the state was part of APC`s plan to cause crisis with a view to forestall his inauguration on Oct. 16.

“The National Judicial Council should launch a thorough probe of the happenings in Ekiti State judiciary, and through that, the rot in the system will be exposed.

“A lot of things are happening there and there are signs that some judicial officers are conniving with the outgoing Gov Kayode Fayemi and the APC.

“The current crisis is an agenda of the APC, and their aim is to get through the back door, what the people of the state did not give them on June 21, when they voted overwhelmingly for me and the PDP.

“I did not and cannot slap a judge. I cannot slap a houseboy, let alone a High Court judge, and I have utmost respect for judicial officers.

“The media propaganda that I beat up a judge is an APC agenda to portray me in bad light having failed to take my mandate through the back door.

“I did not enter Justice John Adeyeye’s court because I had no business to transact there. The tribunal venue, where I went to, is quite a distance from Adeyeye’s court,’’ Fayose said.

He said that so far, nobody had been able to provide photo or video evidence to show where the judge was slapped.

“And the APC members should know that I will not succumb to blackmail and surrender the mandate freely given to me by the people of the state.”

According to him, the PDP leadership is aware of the various petitions by APC to the NJC and that investigation will reveal the truth.

The governor-elect said that he was ready to appear before any committee to be set up by the NJC, even after his inauguration to office.

“The whole issue I can say with all intent was part of a grand plan by the APC to cause mayhem in the state.

“The plan, is to install the Speaker of the Ekiti State House of Assembly as Acting Governor, which the people of Ekiti has seen through, and are ready to stop at all cost.