From Priscilla Ediare, Ado Ekiti
Barely two weeks to the Ekiti State gubernatorial election, the Segun Oni Campaign Organisation (SOCO) has alleged that the state governor, Dr John Kayode Fayemi, has been mounting pressure on President Mohammadu Buhari to rig the June 18 election in favour of the All Progressive Congress (APC) governorship candidate, Mr Biodun Oyebamiji.
The governor was at the Aso Rock shortly before the departure of the President to Equatorial Guinea for the AU summit to brief him about the development in Ekiti APC in the build-up to the June 18 election which he said would be an uphill task going by the soaring popularity of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) governorship candidate, Asiwaju Segun Oni.
In a statement made available to journalists in Ado Ekiti on Sunday, the Director of Media and Publicity of Segun Oni Campaign Organisation, Mr Jackson Adebayo, said that the governor had met with the Inspector General of Police (IGP)on the matter with a response that he should go and get the directive from the president before he could act.
The organisation explained that President Buhari had told him to wait for his arrival for the proper assessment of the situation before he could say anything about the election.
The statement went further that the governor decided to make personal contacts with those whom he believes will have the ears of the president to assist him as soon as he arrived.
SOCO said that though Governor Fayemi has boasted at the meeting he held with some key members of the Biodun Oyebamji Campaign Organisation at Lady Jibowu Hall in the Government House, Ado Ekiti that he has the Inspector General of Police, the Chief of Army Staff and the Director-General of DSS in his pocket as the Chairman of the Governors’ Forum, he is advised to channel that opportunity to the development of Ekiti State rather than bringing war to the state in the name of election.
“We are aware of his moves to truncate the Ekiti election in case he didn’t get the expected response from the presidency, we, however, warn him to shelve the idea because Ekiti people will not take it lightly with him and his co-travellers. We wish to remind him in case he has forgotten the 1983 political mayhem in the old Ondo State the scars which have refused to heal to date. The APC-led government should not attempt to reignite.”
Stressing further, Adebayo said that going by the growing popularity of Segun Oni among the Ekiti electorate who have made up their minds to replace the APC government with the SDP, any attempt by the APC-led Federal Government to manipulate this election against the popular will of Ekiti people will lead to unprecedented anarchy which will make the 1983 scenario a child’s play.
“It is only election of an unpopular candidate that you can toil with,” Adebayo added.
According to the campaign organisation, Fayemi should understand that the game is over for him with the rejection of many of his anointed aspirants in the APC just-concluded legislative primaries across the state, meaning that anybody attached to him has turned into a leper in the eyes of even his party members.
“We would have advised Mr Biodun Oyebamji to withdraw from the contest if he understands the negative mood of Ekiti people, especially his party members to his candidature but for the need for him to wait to see his poor election results.”