From: WOLE BALOGUN, Ado Ekiti
Ex-Senate Chief Whip and governorship hopeful ahead of 2018 under the platform of the All Progressive Congress (APC), Gbenga Aluko, has told Ekiti people to perish the though that former governor Kayode
Fayemi is interested in the 2018 Governorship poll in the state, saying the minister still remains a strong backer of the zoning agitation in the state.
Aluko also accused Fayose, who is the Chairman of the Peoples
Democratic Party Governors’ Forum, of making surreptitious moves to
join the All Progressives Congress(APC), having realized that the PDP
can’t win the impending election.
The Senate Deputy Chief Whip between 1999 and 2003, added
that governor Ayodele Fayose had always been riding on back of the
presidency to win election, saying the 2003 and 2014 elections that
produced him as a governor were fraught with irregularities.
Aluko, who didn’t elaborate on the moves being made by Fayose over
this allegation, said : “In APC, there is no move that you make that a
leader like me won’t know. Fayose knew that he can’t win the
forthcoming election and we are following every of his moves and
attempt to join APC”.
But publicity secretary to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Jackson Adebayo, dismissed Aluko’s allegation as falsehood, saying Fayose would never even think of working for the APC, not to think of joining the party: ” governor Fayose would never ever think of assisting APC as he did before when they got there to stab him in the back. Recall that it was Fayose who assisted Fayemi to become governor by campaigning openly for him then. But when thy get there, they treated him badly not knowing that God would bring him back. Will he now go and join such ungrateful people, never. ”
At a press conference in Ado Ekiti on Sunday, where he reviewed his
visits to 11 local governments and 122 wards to canvass for votes
ahead of the APC primaries, Aluko said Fayemi shared the view that it
is the time for the south to produce the governor.
“Fayemi himself is an advocate of zoning. At various fora, he has made
it clear that he backs the agitation. He believes there is logic and
sense in it that the south should also be given the ticket in the
spirit of justice and fairplay”.
On the widespread impression that some Aluko, former Southwest
Campaign Director of Buhari/Okadigbo presidential campaign
organization in 2003, said he has been campaigning vigorously around
the state despite his closeness to President Muhammadu Buhari.
“If I am waiting for President Buhari to impose me, I won’t be working
hard like this. The President doesn’t believe in imposition. But I
will work hard to get the ticket after which I will go to him as my
political father and soul mate to seek his endorsement”, he said.
Expressing confidence that the APC would triumph in the 2018 poll,
Aluko said: “Fayose has always been riding on presidential power to
win election in Ekiti.
“In 2003, he won election in Ekiti because of President Olusegun
Obasanjo’s desperation to make inroad into the southwest.
“The same scenario played out in 2014, when the former President
Goodluck Jonathan wanted to use Ekiti and Osun to make inroad to the
south west for 2015 presidential election.
“The revelations of Fayose’s close ally, Tope Aluko and that of Capt
Sagir Koli corroborated the fact that the election was massively
rigged. Fayose had never won any free and fair election in Ekiti.
“In 2011, when election was free and fair, he lost senatorial election
in the Central district to Senator Babafemi Ojudu of the APC. So, the
2018 will prove him wrong that he is only overrating his popularity,
because he can’t win without the federal might”.
Aluko discountenanced the insinuation that there were divisions in his
party, disclosing that “the large number of aspirants doesn’t amount
to division.
“The aspirants shall be sorted out by the delegates at the primary.
Ondo APC started with 46 aspirants and 26 of them went into the
primary and the party still went ahead and won. This confirmed that
the large number is of no consequence provided that the process is
free and transparent”, he said.