Dr. Temitope Aluko
The embattled Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party in Ekiti State, Dr Tope Aluko, on Thursday 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 country home of former Governor, Niyi Adebayo and the candidate of the Labour Party during the governorship poll, Hon. Opeyemi Bamidele .
Fayose, had in a statement by his Special Assistant on Public Communication, Lere Olayinka on Wednesday , taunted the embattled PDP secretary and branded him an insignificant politician in Ekiti, having lost in his unit and ward during the poll, where Fayose won in 158 out of the 177 wards across the state.
Speaking in Ado Ekiti yesterday in reaction to the comment by Fayose, the estranged PDP Chieftain said they deliberately allowed the then governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi of the All Progressives Congress and Hon Opeyemi Bamidele of the Labour Party to win in their respective wards.
Aluko added that being the leader of Fayose’s political structure that 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 record that losing my ward was part of the post election strategies, which involves issues of judges and judgement, 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 we should allow Fayemi and Bamidele to win in their wards, because you are all aware that these are the only two candidates that could take us up and incidentally I was from the same ward with Bamidele and former Governor 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 forms part of our argument at the ElectionPetition Tribunal”, he explained.
Aluko denied allegation from Fayose that he had been bribed by the APC with millions of naira to bring down his government.
He described as mere smokescreen , the allegation raised by some lawmakers in Ekiti on Wednesday, 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, but I am ready for them any time, any day,” he said.
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