Two major gladiators in the opposition  Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)  in Ekiti State, Senator Biodun Olujimi and two-termed former Governor of the State, Dr Ayodele Fayose have used Saturday’s party ward congresses to test their strengths.
The two gladiators made their presence felt across the 177 wards in the state.
However, political thugs said to be loyal to the former Governor Ayodele Fayose’s faction have been accused by the Senator Biodun Olujimi’s faction of hijacking the election materials and the already signed and concluded results to a popular Hotel known as Kiibati Hotel located at Petim Area along the Ado Ekiti – Iworoko Road in connivance with His Excellency, Engineer Haruna Manu, the Deputy Governor of Taraba State who was officially sent from the National Secretariat of the People’s Democratic Party in Abuja to preside over the conduct of the Ward Congresses held on Saturday in the State.
The Spokesperson of the Senator Biodun Olujimi’s faction in Ekiti State in person of Chief Sanya Atofarati revealed that the Ward Congresses were successfully held between the hours of 8am and 12noon across the 177 wards in the State and in the presence of the officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and Security Agencies like the Police, DSS and Civil Defence Officers among others.
Atofarati accused the Deputy Governor of Taraba State, Engineer Haruna Manu who was officially sent from the National Secretariat of the PDP in Abuja of intentionally coming late into the State in order to do the bidding of the former Governor Ayodele Fayose by installing his surrogates by all means.
Atofarati maintained further that “the official time approved by the PDP NEC and NWC to hold the Ward Congresses is between the hours of 8am and 12noon.
“But it took us by surprise seeing the Deputy Governor of Taraba State arriving the State Headquarter around 3:30pm after the whole 177 Ward Congresses have been conducted, winners emerged and the results duly signed by the prescribed officials”.
Atofarati in a telephone conversation with PMParrot at about 12:30am on Sunday said: “on hearing that the election materials and results duly signed and concluded were hijacked by Fayose and his thugs in connivance with the Deputy Governor of Taraba State and taken to Kiibati Hotel in Ado Ekiti at around 8:30pm, we had to mobilize ourselves and storm the hotel in protest. We are at the moment keeping vigil in front of the hotel. Fayose and the Deputy Governor of Taraba State, Engineer Haruna Manu have decided to lock up themselves inside the Kiibati Hotel to alter election results already concluded and signed by the officials”.
Some of the fake policemen they used to hijack election materials and concluded results are now inside the Kiibati Hotel shooting into the air to scare us away. We will not be scared of their gunshots. We are going to continue keeping vigil here until day time. The Hotel Manager came out to tell us that they are not inside but we know they are there. We have taken pictures and sent them online for the world to see that they are truly here falsifying the results.
“Also, the Commissioner of Police, Mr. Amba Asuquo in Ekiti State has sent in his team, we are here together. Policemen are yet to have access to the Hotel premises because the gates are locked and they are not ready to open”.
In an earlier statement made by the current Party Chairman in the State, Barrister Gboyega Oguntuase, he said: “the election has been held in all the wards in the morning while votes have been recorded for all contestants without any crisis or rancour but it is unfortunate that the delegates are now planning to conduct another election”.
Oguntuase further alleged that the representatives of the party from Abuja has been bribed by Fayose which made them call for fresh election late in the evening so as to perpetrate their evil plans. He questioned why the officials from Abuja preferred to conduct election at night time when the people who are qualified to vote and elect their leaders would have all gone to their homes to sleep”.
Oguntuase used the opportunity to call on the National Leadership of the party to call those sent to Ekiti for the conduct of the poll to order and direct them to cut off the planned purported election they are planning to hold in the night. He said the party’s stakeholders in the state have rejected plans by the party representatives from Abuja to conduct a fresh election”.
Also speaking, Senator Biodun Olujimi expressed dissatisfaction over the behaviour of the party’s national delegates in the State, asking “how could an election that was concluded in the morning be re-conducted?”.
Senator Olujimi told journalists that they had announced an 8am time for congress. At 8am, we found out that INEC, Police, DSS, NSCDC and the electoral officers were already at the various wards. We allowed them to do what they wanted to do and of course, they conducted the congresses, everybody signed.
“And at about 12.30, everybody had dispersed. When the Chairman of the Electoral Committee, the Deputy Governor of Taraba State came in rather late about 3.15pm and had to do protocols in the government house to show his presence. He came into the party office at about 4pm and said well, since he had just come, the congress had to be redone. We were wondering why the congress would be redone because it had been done and everybody had signed.
“We suspected that some people had been compromised and so, when he said people should go, we said there should be two options -that result be upheld because everybody was present, that if it is not upheld, that we postpone it to a proper date when everybody can be there again, but he said no, that he will go on with it this night.
“Now that it has been ordered, soldiers have been mobilized to go in buses to go and hijack and threaten everybody that have been asked to go back so that they can write.
“All we are asking is simple, if you are cancelling, let us do it at a proper date and time appointed by the party. When people are struggling like this, it smacks of failure. When you have failed, that is when you start struggling for little things because this is an election into wards that is supposed to be a normal everyday thing. But you find a set of people struggling to write results, we will not accept it. It will not happen except of course, litigation and then we tear the party apart which I pray does not happen”, she concluded.
Meanwhile, calls and messages sent to the two lines (both WhatsApp and Phone) to get the reaction of Mr. Lere Olayinka, the spokesperson of the former Governor Ayodele Fayose were yet to be responded to as at the time of filing this report.
Also, attempts to get the reactions of the Ekiti State Police Command on the crisis through the PRO, Mr. Sunday Abutu by PMParrot has not yielded result as at the time of filing this report.
Packaged by Emmanuel Adeniran
