PDP chieftain reveals how Jonathan forced Fayose on Ekiti people

Against popular belief that the Ekiti State governor, Mr Ayodele Fayose was elected on the platform of popularity, a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party, Dr. Temitope Aluko, has revealed, that Fayose may after all have been forced on the helpless people of the state by a conspiracy actively supported by former President Goodluck Jonathan. However, Governor Fayose, in a swift reaction, said Aluko is an unstable character that does not deserve response from sane minds.

Dr. Temitope Aluko, former secretary of the PDP in Ekiti State at the weekend told newsmen, that Fayose came to power through a plot backed by expenditure of huge sums of money, intimidation and raw military show of strength.

According to him, the June 21, 2014 governorship polls that produced Fayose’s as governor was not an election, but a coup against the people.

Aluko claimed that the state was under siege and federal might was fully deployed, both in cash and intimidation to ensure Fayose emerged governor of the southwest state.

While addressing journalists in Abuja, weekend, Aluko apologized to the people of the state for his role in the high level manipulation, and alleged that the military was used to rig the election in favour of Fayose.

Aluko was chairman, Security and Intelligence Committee of Fayose Campaign Organisation, the Chief PDP agent who signed the results for the election. He had also testified in camera before the military panel that investigated the role of the military in the Ekiti election.

According to him former President Jonathan allegedly gave Fayose $37 million cash to prosecute the governorship election.

Aluko, who said he was part of Fayose’s inner circle during the election, alleged that Jonathan initially gave the incumbent Ekiti governor a first tranche of $2 million in March 2014 for the primary election, noting that this cash was collected at the NNPC headquarters in Abuja and taken to Fayose’s private house in Abuja before it was moved to Ekiti.

His narrative: “Immediately after the primary election, we collected another $35 million from Jonathan on June 17, 2014. The money was brought to us by the former Minister of State for Defence, Senator Musiliu Obanikoro.

“We all assembled at the front office of Spotless Hotel, Ado Ekiti, owned by Fayose. Thereafter, the cash was taken to a Bureau De Change in Onitsha where it was converted to N4.7 billion,” Aluko added.

Aluko further alleged that Fayose received about N3 billion cash from a serving senator from Ogun State to revive the PDP in Ekiti State.

Read also: Arms deal: EFCC moves in on Obanikoro

On the role of the military in the election, he said: “The former President agreed with Fayose and summoned a security meeting at the Presidential Villa for the purpose of the election. Those at the meeting were the former Chief of Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshall Alex Badeh; then Chief of Army Staff, Lt.Gen. Kenneth Minimmah; and former National Chairman of the PDP, Alhaji Adamu Mu’azu.

“Others included Fayose, Senator Iyiola Omisore, then Minister of Police Affairs, Jelili Adesiyan and Obanikoro. At that meeting, the former President made it clear to the ex-Chief of Defence Staff that Fayose would stand for him (as Commander-In-Chief) in terms of providing security for the election”.

“Aluko alleged that Fayose, relying on Jonathan’s directive, approached the former Commander of the Army Brigade in Akure, Brig. Gen. Dikko, to take charge of the election for the PDP, who refused to cooperate and was replaced after a petition was filed against him.

“But Gen. Dikko did not give us audience. He stated bluntly that he would not be available for such operation. So Fayose sponsored a petition against him which led to his replacement with Brig. Gen. Aliyu Momoh who was amenable to our plans”.

He continued, that 64 PDP stalwarts, who had knowledge of their local governors were picked to help with information on opposition members. And that “They gave detailed information regarding names and locations of opposition members in all the local governments, the various routes, areas of strength and weaknesses of the PDP in the 16 local governments.

“Today, most of these 64 hatchet men are members of the Senate, House of Representatives, state House of Assembly, commissioners, local government chairmen, special advisers and the rest.”

He continued: “We went into the election with 1040 recognised soldiers and another batch of 400 unrecognised soldiers brought from Enugu by Senator Andy Uba. In addition, we raised 44 special strike teams brought in Toyota Hilux vans from Abuja and Onitsha. We made special stickers for the vehicles that conveyed members of the strike team and black hand bands for each of them.

“Each strike team was made up of 10 members headed by a soldier and comprising soldiers, policemen, DSS operatives and Civil Defence corps. They were detailed to attack and arrest prominent APC chieftains in all the local
governments. We set up anchorage, mainly residential houses, in every local government where the strike team members collected their welfare and other allowances. To encourage the strike team members, we gave them orders to share money and other valuables they could lay their hands on in the houses of APC chieftains they raided.

“Then we set up detention camps, mainly in primary schools where most of the APC chieftains were detained. Others were detained in police stations where the DPOs were friendly with us. We let them off after the election was over.

“A day to the election, we used the military to block all routes in the local governments and prevented APC chieftains, including former Rivers State Governor, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi from coming into Ekiti. So we ensured that no APC chieftain was in sight on election day. We provided polling agents for the APC in most of the polling units so we had no problem getting them to sign election results in the units.

“All the local and foreign observers that described the election as free and fair only witnessed the voting exercise on election day without knowing what transpired before the voting”.

He added: “If Koli hadn’t spoken out they would have taken this to Osun State and then Fayose betrayed Omisore again because they were now fighting for who will become the South west leader. This Mua’zu that Fayose was abusing gave us N20 million for Fayose’s primaries. That was why Mua’zu was saying he should stop talking or he will spill the bean.

“He started attacking Mua’zu after the party won because there was another N500 million he released for court cases which was supposed to be for the whole nation but Fayose thought it was for him alone so he went to meet Mua’zu for the N500 million. He actually reported to Jonathan twice until Mua’zu explained in the presence of Jonathan, and that was the beginning of the Fayose and Mua’zu problems.”

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On why he was coming up now with the revelations, Aluko said: “Before the election, Fayose, Femi Bamishile and I jointly swore with the Holy Bible on a sharing formula after we must have won the election. We agreed that Fayose would be governor, Bamishile his deputy and I Chief of Staff. But the moment he got into office, Fayose reneged on the agreement and left me in the lurch. More worrisome is the fact that Fayose has derailed from the original Ekiti project we envisaged”.

Reacting to the allegations, Special Assistant to Ekiti State Governor on Public Communications and New Media, Lere Olayinka, described Aluko as a new distraction from the APC in Ekiti State, saying he did not deserve response from sane minds.

Olayinka said Aluko was beclouded by his desperation to seek revenge against Governor Fayose because of the governor’s refusal to make him his Chief of Staff, such that he was not mindful of committing perjury.

The governor’s aide said it was shameful that the APC had refused to accept a scandalous electoral defeat they suffered 19 months ago, asked whether it was also soldiers that rigged the 2015 presidential, senatorial, House of Representatives and State House of Assembly elections that the party lost woefully in Ekiti.

He said: “For Aluko to be taken seriously, he must first report himself to the police to be tried for perjury and committed to prison for three years, since what he is now saying is different from what he said under oath at the Election Tribunal being the only witness called by the PDP and Governor Fayose.

“As per his claim that $37 million was given to the governor for the election, the governor got financial support
from various sources as is usual of anyone contesting election and it is not for him to begin to advertise in the media the level of support the governor received from individuals, corporate organizations or groups.

‘’However, if money belonging to the APC is missing and they suspect that the money was stolen by Dr Goodluck Jonathan to fund Ekiti State governorship election, they can approach the EFCC.”

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