Mr. Ayo Fadaka, Ondo PDP Director of Media and Publicity, has reacted to some comments credited to the party during the Ondo gubernatorial election.
The PDP had alleged that an APC chieftain, Engr. Tunji Light Ariyomo induced voters by canvassing and sharing money at polling units during the November 2016 election.
Reacting, Fadaka denied ever making or confirming such allegation as reported by an online newspaper.
Fadaka stated that, “Tunji Ariyomo is one of those young men that I respect so much because of his intellect. He is also like my junior brother”.
He added that he believed that Tunji Light was not the kind of politicians known for sharing money.
An eyewitness account by Pastor Bolarinwa Omotosho, a resident of Gbogi Isikan Ward 2 where the alleged incident occurred, revealed that Ariyomo arrived at the polling centre in search of his name the morning of the election.
He recalled that Ariyomo was in company of prominent indigenes of the ward which included elder Prince Olu Adegboro, a former Public Relations Officer of the Federal University of Technology Akure, FUTA.
According to him, “Upon arrival, a section of the crowd which was divided almost evenly between supporters of the PDP and the APC began to shout praises of Ariyomo using his popular name Imole while an elderly woman was singing his praise name known as oriki.”
“As Ariyomo made to prostrate to the elderly woman in deference even as he bade to dissuade APC supporters from shouting, some supporters of the PDP were enraged and started shouting “this is campaign. This is vote canvassing. It is illegal”.
“That was all that happened. So when I saw the report that he was sharing money and chased away, I was shocked. Those are blatant lies.
“Even the video contains no such activities. Yet some people kept sharing it because it suits their preconceived positions. They should have released the complete video of what happened” Omotosho added.
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