Ekiti Guber 2018: Fayose’s Defeated Candidate Heads For Tribunal

Defeated Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate Prof. Kolapo Olusola, said yesterday he will challenge Governor-elect Kayode Fayemi’s victory  at the Tribunal.

He described Fayemi’s victory as “the most audacious electoral robbery of our recent history.”

Speaking to reporters at his office, Olusola claimed he won the election with more than 70 per cent of valid votes cast and vowed to reclaim his ‘mandate’ through judicial means.

He alleged that the All Progressives Congress (APC) used the  federal might to pervert the electoral process, subvert the will of Ekiti people and viciously steal the “mandate’freely given” to him.


Olusola said: “I therefore reject the falsified results being bandied by the Independent National Electoral Commission,(INEC)  which purportedly gave the election to the All Progressives Congress and its candidate; Dr. John Kayode Fayemi.

“This is the most audacious electoral robbery of our recent history. It shall not stand. By the grace of Almighty God and your support, I will pursue and regain my mandate.

“To rig this election, the APC leveraged its well-advertised but patently obnoxious and anti-democratic “Federal might” to intimidate, harass, victimize, oppress, and brutalize PDP leaders, members, and the voting public all over Ekiti.

“This brutal and barbaric process, which started well before the election, did not spare Gov. Ayo Fayose and me; as the whole world had seen and had condemned. It is quite unfortunate that the harassment has continued even after the election.

“On Saturday, July 14th, the security agencies and INEC upped the ante, threw all caution to the wind, went back on their promises to be impartial and to conduct credible elections; they sided with APC and Fayemi to the chagrin of our party, myself, and the good people of Ekiti State.”

Ekiti Guber 2018: Coalition of Observers Reject Results… To Release Findings

 

Coalition of observer groups and Civil Society Organisations that observed and monitored the Saturday July 14th Governorship elections in Ekiti State, have released a statement, rejecting the result released by INEC announcing APC candidate, Kayode Fayemi, as the winner of the election.

In a press statement released by its officials Comrade Haruna Farouk and Nze Adachi Okoro, the group said the election does not reflect what they saw on ground, adding that it will release their report on Wednesday July 18th which will contain details of the malpractices that characterised the election.

According to the group, it has gathered enough evidence to back up its claims that the election was marred by irregular practices. Describing the election as political terrorism, the group said
“We have evidences of election malpractices where a particular party in connivance with security personnel went about inducing electorates with cash and coercing them to snap the ballot papers in order to receive cash gifts from the agents of the party in question. The level of intimidation that occurred during the elections on Saturday was disheartening and shouldn’t be allowed to stand in modern day Nigeria. We witnessed a situation where loyalists of the Peoples Democratic Party PDP and its agents were harassed and intimidated so as to make it difficult for them to participate in the elections. Other incidence that we recorded will be made open in our findings which will definitely shock Nigerians and expose the conspiracy of INEC, Security agents and the APC to deprive the people of Ekiti from expressing their constitutional rights.”
The Coalition said it was regrettable that the Independent national Electoral Commission as well as the security agencies could be used to short change the people of the state the way they did on the day of the election.

Ambode Congratulates Ekiti State Gov-Elect, Fayemi.. Says Its Victory Well Deserved

Lagos State Governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode on Sunday congratulated the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Governor-Elect of Ekiti State, Dr. Kayode Fayemi for emerging victorious at the keenly contested governorship election held on Saturday.

Fayemi was declared winner of the polls by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), defeating his closest rival, Prof. Kolapo Olusola-Eleka of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) with 197,459 to 178,121 votes.

Governor Ambode in a statement signed by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Habib Aruna commended President Muhammadu Buhari, leadership and members of APC and its supporters for the hard-fought victory adding that it was a testament to the fact that the electoral value of the party has not waned. 

The Governor specially praised and congratulated Fayemi for his hard fought victory and wished him well as he prepares to take the mantle of leadership of the State for a second time.

He also urged the Ekiti Governor-Elect to use his second coming to build on its previous achievements and forge ahead with the quest to unite the Yoruba nation, especially through regional integration and economic transformation of the South-West geo-political zone and justify the confidence the Ekiti electorate have reposed on him.

Governor Ambode also congratulated the Ekiti electorate for comporting themselves peacefully throughout the period of the election, while urging those aggrieved with the result to channel their grievances to the appropriate quarters rather than resort to self help.

PDP Admits Bad Conduct, Apologises To Obasanjo

In its continued effort to woo former President Olusegun Obasanjo, Nigeria’s opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has apologised to the 84-year-old statesman.
The party, on renewed membership drive to “oust President Muhammadu Buhari’’ in 2019 election, said it was apologising for ‘‘bad conduct and mistreatment’’.
Mr. Kehinde Akinyemi, Obasanjo’s Media Aide, confirmed the apology tendered by the PDP which many see as desperate.
Akinyemi made the disclosure in a statement issued on Saturday in Abeokuta and made available to newsmen.
He said the party’s National Chairman, Mr. Uche Secondus, who led a 21-member delegation of the party’s National Working Committee (NWC) on a courtesy call on Obasanjo, gave the apology.
Other issues raised by Secondus, according to Akinyemi, were the situation in the country, the progress of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on grand alliance of the Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP).
He said the PDP National Chairman also appealed to Obasanjo to continue to proffer solutions to the nation’s socio-economic and political problems.
Akinyemi said that Obasanjo granted forgiveness to the party in line with biblical injunction.
He said the former president urged them to pay attention to issues that were needed to restore PDP as a party of good image, discipline, commitment, leadership and moral principles.
On CUPP being championed by PDP, he said Obasanjo advised that the coalition should remain an alliance as being projected and not a merger.
‘‘The MoU for grand alliance is what it says, a grand alliance. It is neither a merger nor absorption of any political party by any political party.
‘‘It is clear for the parties which agreed to be members of the alliance to work together to achieve one important common objective at the national level for the election of 2019.
‘‘Where it is appropriate and necessary, members may also form alliance and co-operation at the state level.
‘‘The individuality and independence of each political party must be observed and respected by all parties concerned.
‘‘It is also desirable that in the process of implementing the MoU to achieve the set objective, solidarity and focus on the objective must be maintained.
‘‘Each member political party must be cautious of fake news, rumours, blackmail, and seeds of discord that may be sown among them from external quarters,’’ Akinyemi quoted Obasanjo as saying.
He said the former president at the meeting reiterated that he had quit partisan politics, but would continue to make himself available to guide any party that so desired.
NAN reports that Obasanjo, however, maintained that he would prioritise his service to the African Democratic Congress.
Secondus, who spoke with newsmen shortly after the meeting, said the chieftains of the party were in Abeokuta to consult with Obasanjo ahead of the 2019 general elections.
He emphasised that the consultation had become necessary to seek direction from Obasanjo and factor in his pieces of advice as PDP prepares for the 2019 general elections.
Obasanjo had pulled out of the PDP four years ago when he had disagreement with former President Goodlcuk Jonathan.
But on Monday, he stormed the rally of Oladipupo Adebutu, one of the Ogun governorship aspirants of the PDP.
The former president said he was at the event to “say hello.”
“I am just passing by and decided to say hello and wish you well… whether it is a joke or a real game, they will know. I saw you here and I came to play with you,” he had said.

Fayose Is A Street-type Thug – Garba Shehu

Garba Shehu, media aide to President Muhammadu Buhari has described Ayodele Fayose, Governor of Ekiti, as a street-type thug and a high- powered nothing.
Shehu made this known in a statement on Sunday in reaction to the outcome of the gubernatorial election in Ekiti won by Kayode Fayemi of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Shehu described the victory as a win for the President recalling that Fayose had described the election as a referendum on President Buhari.
Read the statement below:
The people of the politically significant State of Ekiti have spoken against their Governor, outgoing governor, Mr. Ayodele Fayose, who told them that the governorship election they just had was a referendum on President Muhammadu Buhari.
He said candidates Kayode Fayemi and Olusola Eleka were pawns and that he and President Buhari were the actual contestants.
In what observers said was the most intense, and a most angry campaign, the people gave their verdict: Dr. Kayode Fayemi, the one-time governor, declared persona-non-grata is now persona-grata again.
President Buhari has won this referendum. The people of the State have sent a clear message. The politics of brinksmanship, assaults, insults, abuses and Robin Hoodism disguised as stomach infrastructure has been rejected in favour of politics of inclusion, development, responsibility and good governance.
President Buhari’s war against corruption and insecurity; the message of agric revolution and infrastructure development and fidelity in resource allocation and management have struck a chord with Ekiti voters, who had been lied to and deceived by Governor Fayose.
While the opposition continued to rant at him, President Buhari’s uprightness, coupled with incorruptibility and personal integrity, unmatched by any politician in the country has again stood the test of time.
The All Progressives Congress (APC) win in Ekiti means that the Party has control over 25 out of the 36 states of the Federation. The party thus becomes the only one in power in the six states of the South-West geopolitical zone.
Besides reinforcing the APC’s position as the only standing pole in the political landscape, it is a credit to the national leader of the party, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, against whom all manner of ethnic and religious opposition is being mounted by former President Obasanjo and some of the Asiwaju’s sworn enemies in the sub-region.
With this, the political landscape of the South-West has been transformed. APC’s regional strength has been strengthened and the Asiwaju will be respected even better. Without losing patience and decorum, the Asiwaju has proved that rivals must reconcile and come to terms or lose everything.
This win is equally a huge boost to the APC and its new leadership under Chairman Adams Oshiomole, who got their first baptism of fire in Ekiti. It is, importantly, a big boost to the second term ambition of President Muhammadu Buhari.
For the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) which came second in the election in a state that they held sway, it is a loss politically and psychologically. The result of the election has proved that PDP is irreparably broken and dismantled. They have nothing to offer to the country and its people. The message from Ekiti is that no state in Nigeria will vote PDP. Never again.
As for Mr. Fayose and his morbid brand of politics, it is now his time to reconcile himself to the imminent political extinction he faces, his political career sealed for good.
Newspapers have mistaken him for a gadfly who creates discomfort for the government at the centre to make it better, but Fayose is a street-type thug. He never fits the role of a gadfly because he thrives on bitter enmity. Opposition does not mean a negative view of everything. Neither does it translate into a licence to abuse your superiors.
The winner of the election, Governor Fayemi’s trajectory from a persona-non-grata to a persona-grata again has given a wave of cheer to APC members all over the country. It has given a fresh hope that fake news, lies and propaganda run only short distances, because they have short legs.
An old proverb says you can’t beat something with nothing. After all the noise, theatricals and drama, Fayose’s fall came with a thud, not a bang: a high-powered nothing.