Ayodele Fayose, former governor of Ekiti, says the election
of officers at the south-west zonal congress of the Peoples Democratic Party
(PDP) was a “scam”.
Fayose made the allegation when he featured on Politics
Today, a Channels Television Programme, on Wednesday.
On Monday, the party held a congress to determine its zonal
leaders in the region, after a series of postponements and leadership tussle.
The congress was expected to lay to rest the leadership
tussle between Fayose and Makinde, who were at loggerheads over who controls
the party in the zone.
At the much-awaited congress in Osogbo, Taofeeq Arapaja, a
former deputy governor of Oyo state who was backed by Makinde, won the PDP
south-west chairmanship seat with 343 votes to defeat Eddy Olafeso, the
immediate past national vice-chairman (south-west) — and a candidate of Fayose
— who polled 330 votes.
Speaking on what transpired at the election, Fayose claimed
that the election was rigged, adding that forces behind Makinde influenced the
outcome of the election.
He, however, noted that he has accepted the outcome of the
election and embraced Makinde, not because he was defeated but for the
advancement of the party.
“For me, as to that election, it was a scam but I must agree
as a leader of the PDP. I have been working for this party. I am one of the
voices that cannot be forgotten in the PDP,” he said.
“And I will not sit down here and say because of 13 votes,
because of manipulation, the party must not move forward.”
During the interview, the presenter showed Fayose a video,
which was said to have been recorded before the election, wherein some men were
threatening to kill the former governor if he comes to the venue of the
congress.
Reacting, the former governor claimed that those threatening
to kill him are thugs from the road transport workers union in Oyo, adding that
the video depicts the kind of characters behind the Oyo governor.
“I have seen this
video; what this gentleman was saying at the time they came to the venue. They
said ‘Fayose, we are waiting for you here; we are going to kill you’. This is
the chairman of road transport workers in Oyo state,” he said.
“These people came with governor Makinde’s convoy. Everybody
knows. Who is this man? Is he the road transport worker in Ekiti? This is
enough to show the whole world. If governor Makinde, a first-term two years old
governor — yet-to-be two years old governor — is parading characters like this,
it simply shows the kind of people behind him.
“This is shameful for our party. I take responsibility for
that. In the 21st century, thuggery is shameful for our party. Remember I was
in Ondo; these people came to Ondo to attack me. These same people came to Ondo
and I told governor Makinde. So I’m glad the whole world is seeing this.
“Governor Makinde looks quiet but dirty. Parading these
people to wait for me; they are over a thousand. They are doing this to me in
the video, ‘we will cut your neck.’ That was why I made up my mind that I must
attend that congress, even if I die there, I die.”
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