By Wole Balogun, Ado Ekiti
Once upon a time, Ekiti State governor, Ayodele Fayose an his estranged political son, Dr. Temitope Aluko, Aluko enjoyed very cordial relationship. Their relationship was the envy of all that knew them.
Daily Sun gathered Fayose and Aluko have had over 40 years of very cordial relationship as brothers while growing up in the same neighbourhood. As friends, they stuck to the same social and political ideology. But today, things have fallen apart. The duo are now on warpath, with each seeking to undo the other.
A doctorate degree holder and former senior lecturer at the Ekiti State University , Ado-Ekiti, Aluko had left the classroom for the rough
world of politics and emerged PDP’s House of Representative’s candidate in 2011 but lost to the then candidate of the Action Congress (AC), Opeyemi Bamidele. Aluko, it was reliably gathered, was once Fayose’s trusted strategist in political ‘arm twisting’ and ‘scheming’; his intelligence and almost unmatched skills at organizing political loyalists and rallying immense support in favour of Fayose endeared him the more to the governor.
These attributes apparently earned him the Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ekiti State. It also made him assist Fayose to emerge the party’s gubernatorial flag-bearer prior to the June 21 poll that returned the governor.
It is on record that but for ing the PDP win the June 21, 2014 gubernatorial poll, which returned Fayose as Executive Governor of the state, achieving that feat might have been a tall dream for the governor.
Little wonder that he (Aluko) had settled for no other reward than Fayose’s Chief of Staff, a position that would have placed him as the leader of the governor’s executive team. Governor Fayose, it was gathered, had agreed to reward Aluko with the position.
However, it was Fayose’s refusal to honour this agreement after getting into power, that strained the robust relationship they once enjoyed. It was even speculated that Aluko sent several ‘middle men’ to Fayose to make him fulfill the promise to give him Chief of Staff to Ekiti State Government. It was alleged that Aluko went as far as reporting Fayose’s alleged betrayal to the governor’s mother, whose intervention didn’t yield any positive results, as the governor stuck to his guns over the matter. Consequently, both men went their separate ways.
Irked by that alleged political subterfuge, Aluko and his loyalists drew the battle line. Aluko and his men moved away from the party and purportedly expelled Fayose’s man, Mr. Idowu Faleye as state chairman of the party over alleged misconduct.
Expectedly, the governor fought back. He threw his weight behind Faleye, who in turn expelled Aluko and his men from the party. The latter, who still lays claim to the position of state secretary, has challenged his expulsion in the court.
To get back at the governor, Aluko, who was the PDP’s only witness at the Governorship Election Petition Tribunal, whose testimony at the tribunal saved Fayose, made a volte face.
Speaking at Abuja, the Ekiti PDP “scribe”, who a few months earlier had continued to maintain that his party won the governorship election fair and square, told the world that the election was indeed a sham.
According to him, the PDP used the soldiers deployed to the state to maintain
law and order during the election to manipulate the poll. “We had sold an idea to the then President Goodluck Jonathan that for his re-election in 2015, he would need majority of the South-West including Ekiti. He agreed to our proposal and accepted to fund the Ekiti guber election of 2014 and also to allow us use federal might to intimidate the opposition…” he said .
Expectedly, Aluko’s allegations shocked everyone. APC, which had maintained all along that the federal might and men of the Nigerian Army were used to allegedly rig the said election, said that it was vindicated. On its part, the Ekiti State government dismissed him as a Judas. The government went a step further to charge him to court for perjury.
In response, Aluko said the government betrayed him first, adding that “the APC has been petitioning me and it came as a rude shock to me when the government (Ekiti State government) said that I’m Judas, they are the Judas anyway, because they betrayed me. I am still a member of the Peoples Democratic Party. It is APC that is petitioning me over this issue.
I trashed it out on channels television recently. They petitioned me, and I have stayed 12 days with SSS, five days with police and five days with the EFCC. So I’m actually on bail from these security operatives.
“ During the interrogations, they asked me so many questions and as truthful as I can be, I gave them the answers, because I said I wanted to do restitution and that is what I’ve done.”
However, on Sunday, March 3,Aluko made a dramatic appearance with Governor Fayose at the Eko Hotels and Suites, Lagos, where he declared that he had settled his scores with the governor.
Fielding questions from journalists, Aluko said he had come to see Governor Fayose, who he addressed as “my brother”, declaring that the crisis that earlier tore them apart was being resolved and that appreciable progress had been made towards achieving a lasting peace.
Aluko, who blamed the crisis on interference and insinuations from some quarters, said the processes leading to renewed peace between him and the governor was being achieved without any string or condition attached.
“ In the last one and a half hours, I have met with my brother, Governor Ayodele Fayose. We are resolving the issue. We have made appreciable progress and we hope and pray to God that there will be peace,” he stated.
Aluko insisted that his new move had nothing to do with looking for positions in government but purely to bring about peace in the state.
On his part, Fayose said: “We have to resolve the issue and we have made considerable progress as he said. His coming is to further strengthen the progress he is talking about and I am sure if this is not important, he won’t be here. He is here because there must be peace and I want to let you know that we discussed a lot of issues.”
Speaking further, the governor said he remained the father of the state, adding that “whatever has happened in the past, I see it as one of those things. If I should leave him to the whole world, who will be there for him? Nobody. I am his father, I am his brother, whatever the past has held for all of us, I am still his father.”
On his part, the facilitator of the peace move, immediate past Speaker, Ekiti State House of Assembly, Honourable Olugbemi, said he decided to intervene in the resolution of the crisis in order to move the party in the state forward, describing the estranged PDP chieftain as a good fighter and one of the few people from Ekiti that could stand and confront the evils.
As was to be expected, the peace meeting between Fayose and Aluko generated diverse reactions. The Ekiti State chapter of the PDP, through its spokesperson, Jackson Adebayo, still disowned Aluko, saying he remains barred from the party.
Also, Governor Fayose›s Aide on Communication and New Media, Lere Olayinka, taunted Aluko, describing the meeting in Lagos between Aluko and Governor Fayose as “a vindication of his position that he (Aluko) can make a 360 degree turnaround and return to the same Governor Fayose that he claimed rigged election.”
Olayinka said in a statement that he was speaking in his personal capacity and not as spokesperson of the governor. He said: “Even though Governor Fayose, being someone with large heart may not be too happy that I am making this statement, but as one of the major dramatis personae in the whole saga, my conscience won’t allow me to just keep silent after all the pains and confusion caused by Aluko.”
The Ekiti State Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Ajayi Owoseni, at a press briefing in Ado-Ekiti, said the reconciliation notwithstanding, the government would not drop the perjury case against Aluko.
But Aluko was to make another U-turn. A day after his reconciliation with Fayose, he told journalists in Lagos that reconciliation was a ruse, noting that he was tricked and forced to deceive the world that he and the governor were settling their dispute.
However, Olugbemi alleged that he and Aluko had prostrated three times to beg Fayose before the truce meeting ensued. According to the former speaker, “even when the governor told him to sit down, he prostrated and I also prostrated along with him to beg the governor for total forgiveness.
“At this point, Aluko stood up again, saying my mentor, my leader, my egbon, I am your boy, you know, I am your boy. Whatever step I have taken before now, forgive me. Aluko and myself prostrated again.”Aluko on his part alleged Olugbemi was not saying the truth. He said being Fayose’s employee and stooge, the former Speaker would tell lies to defend his boss.