The Governor of Ekiti State, Mr Ayodele Fayose, has said the allegation by the former Ekiti State Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Tope Aluko, that the military was used to influence the outcome of the June 21, 2014 governorship election in the state was another ploy in the fruitless efforts by the All Progressives Congress (APC) to rubbish the mandate freely given him by the people of the state.
Such a wild allegation, he said, could only have come from a questionable character like Aluko, whom he refused to appoint his Chief of Staff because he could not be entrusted with such sensitive position. He spoke in a broadcast on state television and radio in Ado-Ekiti yesterday.
In a statement by the governor’s Chief Press Secretary, Idowu Adelusi, the governor said the election that ushered him to office was conducted about 20 months ago and applauded by the election observers and the international communities, wondered when the opposition would stop licking their wounds.
Fayose said “ all these steps are being taken by the APC to silence me because of my criticism of obnoxious policies of Buhari administration, but I cannot be silenced. If I Ayo Fayose remains the last man standing to put Buhari administration on its toes, I will not look back. Strong opposition is ingredient of virile democracy. I don’t have skeleton in my cupboard. If the APC has any concrete evidence against me, it should give it to the EFCC.”
Fayose added that he felt sorry for Aluko because he had allowed those who rented him to do the very dirty job to destroy him totally therefore bringing shame upon himself and his family. The Governor continued: “ It is very obvious that those who rented him will keep him at alms lenght believing that what he did to me, he will do same to them.”
“From Aluko’s ranting, one could see that he wants to poison our waters because he did not get the position he expected in our administration. He complained that he was not made the Chief of Staff, how could somebody with great lust for money and insatiable drive to jump from one camp to the other be trusted with such a sensitive post. I was advised by well-meaning Ekiti people not to trust him with sensitive positions because of his greed. “As the state secretary of the party, he was going from one aspirant to the other to collect money, using his position.
When he was at the state-owned university, he was sacked because of certificate racketeering. Pressure was mounted on me not to appoint him otherwise he would put cerdibility problem on my administration. I therefore offered him another position which he rejected. He thinks he wants to rubbish me and my electoral victory but he is only putting himself and his family to shame.
“if he hopes to reap anything from this wild chase, he will only reap the whirlwind. The APC can never trust him with anything because they know that what he did to me, he would do to them. He was the principal witness of the PDP even up to the Supreme Court where he said under oath that the election was free and fair and now at what point was the election flawed?
“I pity the young man. He is only being used by the opposition and they will soon dump him after they are done with him. I won the election about 20 months ago and they are yet to come to term with the hurricane that hit them. First, they blamed what they called ‘photochromic’ for their defeat.
“When that did not sell, they tried a futile impeachment exercise and also they failed. They came up with a military panel, which could in no way act as an appellate court over the process stipulated by the Electoral Law.
“Under normal circumstance, Aluko ought to be arrested and tried for perjury. He was the PDP witness in the tribunal and it meant he lied under oath. The powers that be in Abuja may not see it that way because he is doing their bidding now. Nigerians should ask him to provide evidence for his claims and whether it was the military that helped the PDP thrashed the APC in the general elections last year in Ekiti.
“We know him to be an unstable mind and that was why our party expelled him and others last year. The power of the people is greater than the power of those in authority. There is no way anybody will take through the back door what the people openly denied them through the ballot,” he said.
