Ekiti Politics: Fayose and Aluko Reconcile in Lagos

Segun James and Olakiitan Victor in Ado Ekiti
In a most dramatic move that left a lot of political pundits stupefied, fiery Governor of Ekiti State, Ayodele Fayose, and his estranged friend and former Secretary of the state chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Dr. Temitope Aluko, have reconciled.

This is coming as Fayose’s Special Assistant to the Governor on Public Communications, Lere Olayinka, described the embattled former secretary as a man of unstable character.

The two of them seem to have put the past behind them as both of them met Sunday night in Lagos behind closed door to resolve the lingering crisis between them since 2014.

The reconciliation, THISDAY gathered, was facilitated by the immediate past Speaker of the state House of Assembly, Hon. Dele Olugbemi, who was able to bring the two combatants together.

Speaking with journalists after the meeting, Fayose said: “I’m the father of all. For whatever that happened, I’m the father and I should accommodate everybody.”

Fayose admitted: “We are resolving the issue, we have made appreciable progress and we hope and pray to God that there will be peace.

“In politics, we resolve issues like this and we have made considerable progress like Aluko had said. His coming back 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.”

In a brief remark, Aluko affirmed all is now well between him and the governor.
“There is peace. This is about peace,” he said.

When reminded that he betrayed the governor, Aluko replied: “Am I not standing with him (Fayose) now?”
Aluko said he had come down to see Fayose, who he described as his brother, declaring that the crisis that had led to misunderstanding between them was being resolved and that appreciable progress had been made towards achieving a lasting peace.

While blaming the crisis on undue interference from some quarters, Aluko said the processes leading to renewed peace between him and the governor was being achieved without any string or condition attached.
When asked if he had forgiven Aluko, Fayose reiterated, “You see, whether you are talking of forgiveness, Aluko remains my boy, my son.”

Aluko made several damning allegations against the governor concerning how he allegedly took advantage of then federal might under the PDP to subvert the credibility of the state governorship election in 2014, describing the election that brought Fayose back in office as a “coup against the Ekiti people.”

But barely 12 hours after the truce, a Special Assistant to the Governor on Public Communications, Lere Olayinka, described Aluko as a man of unstable character.

Olayinka said in a statement that the Sundays meeting in Lagos between his boss and Aluko, who had been on each other’s throats over the conduct of the June 2014 governorship polls, had vindicated his position that “he (Aluko) can make a 360 degree turn around and return to the same Fayose he accused of rigging election, because he lacks integrity.

“Being the person that faced Aluko on television interviews where he told all the lies that he told against Fayose and the people of Ekiti State, I am constrained to make my position known on this new development.

“Even though Governor Fayose, being someone with a 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.

“I did say on Channels Television that giving the right situation or after Aluko must have concluded his scamming of the APC and its gullible leaders, he will return to Governor Fayose and recant everything that he had said.
“Today, I have been vindicated because Aluko has done just that and I wonder how he will feel when he comes face to face with the people that he has destroyed. I wonder how he will feel when he comes face to face with those fine military officers that he went to Kaduna to lie against and made them to lose their jobs.

“I wonder how those who funded him will be feeling now, having failed to listen when I was consistently saying that they were being duped. I wonder how the Department of State Services (DSS) men who took Aluko’s lies and acted on them by invading the State House of Assembly will feel now that they have integrity problem because of what he (Aluko) made them to do.

“However, I salute my boss, Governor Fayose for once again displaying his statesmanship because only a statesman with a large heart can hold the hands of someone like Aluko after all that he did to pull down
his government.

“I also thank God for vindicating me by finally exposing the hypocrisy of Aluko to the whole world to see.”