One of the closest aides of Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State, Mr Lere Olayinka has stated that the just concluded gubernatorial election in the state was nothing but a total war.
He made this assertion while speaking on Yemi Sonde Live, a Splash 105.5 FM programme monitored in Ibadan on Tuesday by PMParrot.
The programme, which lasted for one hour also had the All Progressives Congress (APC) National Deputy Youth Leader, Hon. Afeez Abolaji Repete and Engineer Femi Babalola, a governorship aspirant on the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) platform as guests.
According to Olayinka who spoke over the phone, “the election that took place in Ekiti on Saturday July 14, 2018 was a total war on Ekiti people because they were forced to vote for the candidate that won and not out of their own wills by selling out their votes during the period of the election”.
While speaking on the reason the state’s broadcasting corporation was shut by the National Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) after the election, Olayinka said that the NBC accused the radio station of allowing the Governor of Ekiti State, Ayodele Fayose to declare his subordinate, Eleka as the winner without waiting for the result from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Hon. Afeez Abolaji Repete, in his words stated that Governor Fayose thought that his popularity in Ekiti State was enough to win the election for Eleka but to his surprise, it was not so. He went further to assert that Ekiti state’s citizens turned their backs against Fayose because he refused to pay civil servants’ salaries and because he detained the Olukere of Ikere land.
In his words “people voted for who they liked and not purposely because of money”.
Engineer Femi Babalola who has been in politics since 1998 under Oyo State PDP umbrella explained that accepting bribes before voting during election periods will kill Nigeria’s democracy and destroy the entire country.
Babalola therefore enjoined Nigerian youths to behave right and stop allowing politicians to use them as instruments of violence.
Packaged by Mayowa Owogbade
