‘He is yet to recover from shock of his removal as APC chairman,’ Fayemi blasts Oshiomhole over rigging claims

The Ekiti State Governor, Kayode Fayemi, on Tuesday, blasted the former National Chairman of the All Progressive Congress (APC), Adam Oshiomhole, over the latter’s claims that he was approached to manipulate an election a few years ago.

Oshiomole, who featured in a Channels Television programme, Politics Today, on Monday, had alleged that Fayemi asked him to commit electoral fraud during his stint as APC chairman.

He added that the chairman of the Nigerian Governors’ Forum begged him to manipulate the party’s primaries in his favour.

Oshiomhole stated: “I said it in one of the meetings I had with Governor Kayode Fayemi who told me bluntly to my face that ‘chairman what we are saying is that you can go and conduct an election to fulfill all righteousness but when we say this is the person that should emerge just make sure he is the person that emerges.’

“And I told Fayemi ‘that would be your own portion, not me.’ I cannot be used as an instrument of fraud to invite people to buy forms when I have already decided, regardless of how people will vote, this is the man that will prevail.

“You want to use me for such a purpose, I said no. I said at worst, if you find the number to get rid of me as the chairman, I will rather leave the job with my honour than sacrifice my honour to keep the job.”

However, in a statement issued by his Chief Press Secretary, Yinka Oyebode, the governor dismissed Oshiomhole’s allegation as a figment of his own imagination.

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He added that the allegation was part of deliberate attempts to destroy his integrity.

Fayemi insisted that the former Edo State governor was still experiencing a Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) on account of his removal as APC chairman.

He challenged Oshiomole to provide the public with verifiable evidence on how he approached him to manipulate an election in his favour.

The statement read: “The attention of the Governor of Ekiti State and Presidential aspirant on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Dr Kayode Fayemi, has been drawn to a spurious allegation by a former National Chairman of the party, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, that the Governor once asked him to rig an election in his favour.

“The allegation, which was made on national television, is not only false, puerile and laughable, it is a figment of the imagination of the former APC Chairman as Governor Fayemi has never asked Oshiomhole to rig an election for him or any other person and never had any reason to ask for such.

“It is obvious that Oshiomole is still experiencing a Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) on account of his removal as APC chairman.

“For the avoidance of doubt, Governor Fayemi has no reason to approach Comrade Oshiomhole for favours for any election. Governor Fayemi has a stellar track record of being a consummate democrat even in difficult times.”

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