Ekitigate: Lawmakers go underground, vow to stand by Fayose

Gov running from his shadow –Aluko

From Oluseye Ojo, Ibadan and Wole Balogun

NINE out of 11 members of Ekiti State House of Assembly have fled Ado-Ekiti to Ibadan, Oyo State in a bid to avoid what they described as indis­criminate arrest of top officials of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the state gov­ernment.

Daily Sun gathered that the lawmakers left Ado-Ekiti for Ibadan on Tuesday night to beat security checks. Latest in­formation yesterday afternoon indicated that the lawmakers might have also left Ibadan for another hideout.

This was against the back­drop of an alarm raised on Tuesday night by the Ekiti State Government that armed police­men from Abuja have allegedly stormed Ado-Ekiti on a mission to arrest leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), top government officials and 11 members of the state House of Assembly.

Lawmakers sighted in Ibadan were deputy speaker, Mr. Adewumi Olusegun; Chief Gboyega Aribisogan, chairman, House Committee on Informa­tion, Youths and Sports; Dr. Omotosho Samuel, chairman, House Committe on Health; and Mr. Fasanmi Temitope, chiarman, House Committee on Public Account.

The lists also comprised Mr. Jeje Samuel, chairman House Committee on Finance and Appropriation; Mr. Akin­niyi Sunday, the chief whip; Mr. Fajemilehin Oyedele, Mr. Aladeyelu Henry and Akinleye Ekundayo.

Addressing newsmen on be­half of the lawmakers, Chair­man of the Committee on In­formation, Youths and Sports, Chief Aribisogan said the leg­islators came to Ibadan to alert the public to the purported new clandestine plot of the All Pro­gressives Congress (APC)-led Federal Government to cripple the Ekiti State Government.

He alleged that some police­men led by one CSP Moham­med Abubakar of the Force CID, Abuja, on Tuesday “were brought to Ekiti State by the expelled former State Secretary of the PDP Mr Tope Aluko and Ekiti State APC Chairman, Jide Awe.”

“We are aware that this plot is as a result of the failure of the Department of State Services (DSS) to coerce members of the House of Assembly to impeach Governor Ayodele Fayose just because of his criticism of the obnoxious policies of President Mohammadu Buhari’s APC government.

Meanwhile, Secretary of Ekiti State PDP, Mr. Tope Aluko has said Fayose is only running away from his shadow over his (Aluko) recent expose and confessions on alleged rigging of the June 21, 2014 gubernatorial elections in the state. Aluko was reacting to allegations that he is a ‘Judas’, allegations levelled against him by Fayose’s Special Adviser on Communication and New Me­dia, Lere Olayinka.

Olayinka had in a statement made available to journalists yesterday, described Aluko as present day Judas over his al­legation that the June 21, 2014 gubernatorial poll that returned Governor Fayose, was rigged.

Aluko had stirred the hornet net when he alleged that Fayose got a sum of $37 million to de­ploy the military to rig the said election.

Consequently, several devel­opments have followed his out­burst which include the alleged invasion of the Ekiti House of Assembly by men of the Direc­torate of State Services (DSS) and arrest of some lawmakers who were detained for days and recently released, there was also yesterday’s allegation by the state government that policemen from Abuja were in the state to arrest 11 lawmakers and some top government func­tionaries at the pointing of APC members in the state.

Speaking to reporters at the Correspondents’ Chapel in the state yesterday, Aluko who dis­closed that he remains a mem­ber of the PDP and secretary of the party in Ekiti, said: “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 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 the EFCC . So I’m actually on bail from these security op­eratives…”