Fayose: APC Blackmail Won’t Change My Position on Kanu

• Adeyeye blasts PDP elders for backing gov’s endorsement of his deputy

By Victor Ogunje in Ado Ekiti

As the Ekiti State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) on Friday accused Governor Ayodele Fayose of funding the Nnamdi Kanu-led Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), the governor has again reiterated that no amount of blackmail would make him support the maltreatment of Igbos by the military.

Fayose also stated that he would continue to speak out against injustice meted out to anybody or group in any part of the country.

In a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Idowu Adelusi, yesterday, the governor said leaders of the APC  in the state who accused him of sponsoring IPOB were not only mischievous, but only embarked on cheap blackmail that failed woefully to achieve any result.

“We cannot all be cowed. The militarisation of Nigeria, being witnessed now can only be likened to 1984 when General Muhammadu Buhari was military Head of State.

“Killing people in the South-east just because some people are agitating is wrong and I wonder why none of our so called human rights activists is talking.

“Herdsmen have sacked a whole community in this country, has anyone been arrested for all the killings by herdsmen? “If because I am speaking against the wanton killings being done by the military in the South-east, the APC is saying that I’m funding IPOB, was I the one funding the people of Southern Kaduna when I condemned the killings there? Was I funding the Agatus in Benue State when I condemned their killings by Fulani herdsmen? “Was I funding the Shiite Muslims when I condemned the killings of El-Zakzaky followers in Zaria?, he asked.

On recent feat by the state in the education sector where it came first again in the National Examinations Council (NECO) exams, Fayose noted that the state’s investment and commitment in the sector were paying off.

Meanwhile, former Minister of Works, Prince Dayo Adeyeye, has berated former Deputy Governor, Chief Paul Alabi, who also doubles as leader of the  Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) elders’ forum for ‘ingloriously’ working with Fayose to validate the endorsement of  Prof. Olusola Eleka as the “preferred” candidate  for the 2018 governorship election.

Adeyeye said though, he quite agree with the fact that Alabi remains a foremost PDP leader in Ekiti, but stating that  he does not have any  authority to speak on behalf of the elders of the party.

“Whatever he says verbally, and or in documents signed at any time, are his personal opinion and does not represent the opinion or interest of the larger group of the PDP Elders in Ekiti State.

“When elders who have legal status are to be mentioned, we state clearly that as things stand in Ekiti State PDP today, we only have two BOT members in the person of Chief Clement Awoyelu and Senator Biodun Olujimi.

“We also have other respectable elders like, Prof. Tunde Adeniran, Afolabi Ojuawo, Prince Gabriel Omodara, Hon. B. J Abegunde, and a host of others who know, and have acknowledged that the so called adoption move, rather than unite the party, will, in view of circumstances in the party, divide us the more.

“We want to implore members of the public, especially the PDP members to discountenance the statement , which was targeted at deceiving the people to believe that our revered elders in the party have compromised their God- given  position which came to being by virtue of their age and political experience”, he said.