Ekiti Guber Poll: I Sacrificed My Ward to Fulfill Fayose’s Conspiracy, Says Aluko

Olakiitan Victor in Ado Ekiti

The embattled Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ekiti State, Dr. Tope Aluko, yesterday clarified that he lost his unit in Iyin Ekiti during the June 21, 2014, governorship poll as part of the strategy for Governor Ayodele Fayose to escape post-election crisis.

Aluko hails from Iyin Ekiti, the town of former state Governor, Niyi Adebayo, and the candidate of the Labour Party (LP) during the governorship
Election, Hon. Opeyemi Bamidele .

Fayose, had in a statement by his Special Assistant on Public Communication, Lere Olayinka, yesterday taunted the embattled PDP secretary, branding him an insignificant politician in the state having lost in his unit and ward during the poll, where Fayose won 158 out of the 177 wards across the state.

Speaking in Ado Ekiti yesterday in reaction to the comment by Fayose deriding him for losing his ward during the poll, Aluko said they deliberately allowed the then governor, Dr. Kayode
Fayemi of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Hon Opeyemi Bamidele of LP to win in their respective wards.

Aluko added that being the leader of Fayose’s political structure, they had earlier agreed that those two wards must be allowed to stay so that they could have effective grounds to prove their case and have a smooth sail at the election petition tribunal.

“My attention has been drawn to why I lost my ward during the June 21 governorship poll. But I want it to be on records that losing my ward was part of the post-election strategy, which involves judges and judgment, because we were aware that Fayemi will go to court after losing the election.

“Being the leader of the Fayose’s political army, we both agreed that Fayemi and Bamidele should be allowed to win their wards, because you were all aware that these were the only two candidates that could take us up, and incidentally I was from the same ward with Bamidele and
Adebayo.

“It was a way of having genuine reasons in court that made me lost my ward. That was why we distributed a sum of N200, 000 per polling unit during the election, but we only gave N50, 000 to the polling units of
our opponents and this formed part of our argument at the Election
Petition Tribunal,” Aluko explained.

He denied the allegation from Fayose that he had been bribed by APC to bring down his government.

The embattled PDP chieftain described as mere smokescreen, the allegation raised by some lawmakers in the state yesterday in Ibadan, claiming that there was a new attempt to arrest 11 of them as part of the plot to impeach Fayose.

“I know Fayose’s strategy; he was only seeking attention. If you get
to Ado Ekiti now, all the lawmakers are moving around freely. I didn’t know what their intention is by heating up the polity and threatening people around, including me.

“Though, I am not afraid of them asI am ready for them any time, any day,” he said.