Politics: 'Fayose's election was a coup' - Tope Aluko, Former PDP Secretary Ekiti State

By Henry Umoru & Rotimi Ojomoyela (with agency report)

THE former secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Ekiti State, Dr. Temitope Aluko, has alleged that the June 21, 2014 governorship polls in the state that led to the emergence of Chief Ayodele Fayose as governor, was never an election but a coup against the people.

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Claiming that the state was under siege and federal might was fully deployed, Aluko, who, apologized to the people of Ekiti for being one of those who played major roles in bringing Fayose, his friend of over 40 years to power as governor, said what took place in the guise of election was a high level manipulation.

Addressing journalists in Abuja, weekend, Aluko, who was chairman, Security and Intelligence Committee of Fayose Campaign Organisation, is now full of regrets for being part of the Ekiti Project, which was the major campaign point of the PDP that had been jettisoned by Governor Fayose.

Aluko opened a can of worms and gave an insider account of how the military was allegedly used to rig the election that Fayose won under PDP.
Aluko, who was the Chief PDP agent and signed the results for the election, also disclosed how former President Goodluck Jonathan allegedly gave Fayose $37 million cash to prosecute the governorship election.

Tope Aluko

Aluko had also testified in camera before the military panel that investigated the role of the military in the Ekiti election.

Aluko, who said he was part of Fayose’s inner circle during the election, alleged that Jonathan initially gave the incumbent Ekiti governor a first tranche of $2 million in March 2014 for the primary election, noting that this cash was collected at the NNPC headquarters in Abuja and taken to Fayose’s private house in Abuja before it was moved to Ekiti.

How Fayose got money for polls

“Immediately after the primary election, we collected. another $35 million from Jonathan on June 17, 2014. The money was brought to us by the former Minister of State for Defence, Senator Musiliu Obanikoro.

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“We all assembled at the front office of Spotless Hotel, Ado Ekiti, owned by Fayose. Thereafter, the cash was taken to a Bureau De Change in Onitsha where it was converted to N4.7 billion,” Aluko added.

Aluko further alleged that Fayose received about N3 billion cash from a serving senator from Ogun State to revive the PDP in Ekiti State.
Giving account of how the military was used to win the election, he said: “The former President agreed with Fayose and summoned a security meeting at the Presidential Villa for the purpose of the election. Those at the meeting were the former Chief of Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshall Alex Badeh; then Chief of Army Staff, Lt.Gen. Kenneth Minimmah; and former National Chairman of the PDP, Alhaji Adamu Mu’azu.

“Others included Fayose, Senator Iyiola Omisore, then Minister of Police Affairs, Jelili Adesiyan and Obanikoro. At that meeting, the former President made it clear to the ex-Chief of Defence Staff that Fayose would stand for him (as Commander-In-Chief) in terms of providing security for the election”.

Aluko alleged that Fayose, relying on Jonathan’s directive, approached the former Commander of the Army Brigade in Akure, Brig. Gen. Dikko, to take charge of the election for the PDP, who refused to cooperate and was replaced after a petition was filed against him.

“But Gen. Dikko did not give us audience. He stated bluntly that he would not be available for such operation. So Fayose sponsored a petition against him which led to his replacement with Brig. Gen. Aliyu Momoh who was amenable to our plans”.

Aluko alleged that 64 PDP stalwarts, who had knowledge of their local governors were picked to help with information on opposition members. “They gave detailed information regarding names and locations of opposition members in all the local governments, the various routes, areas of strength and weaknesses of the PDP in the 16 local governments.

“Today, most of these 64 hatchet men are members of the Senate, House of Representatives, state House of Assembly, commissioners, local government chairmen, special advisers and the rest.”

He continued: “We went into the election with 1040 recognised soldiers and another batch of 400 unrecognised soldiers brought from Enugu by Senator Andy Uba. In addition, we raised 44 special strike teams brought in Toyota Hilux vans from Abuja and Onitsha. We made special stickers for the vehicles that conveyed members of the strike team and black hand bands for each of them.

“Each strike team was made up of 10 members headed by a soldier and comprising soldiers, policemen, DSS operatives and Civil Defence corps. They were detailed to attack and arrest prominent APC chieftains in all the local governments. We set up anchorage, mainly residential houses, in every local government where the strike team members collected their welfare and other allowances. To encourage the strike team members, we gave them orders to share money and other valuables they could lay their hands on in the houses of APC chieftains they raided.

“Then we set up detention camps, mainly in primary schools where most of the APC chieftains were detained. Others were detained in police stations where the DPOs were friendly with us. We let them off after the election was over.

“A day to the election, we used the military to block all routes in the local governments and prevented APC chieftains, including former Rivers State Governor, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi from coming into Ekiti. So we ensured that no APC chieftain was in sight on election day. We provided polling agents for the APC in most of the polling units so we had no problem getting them to sign election results in the units.

“All the local and foreign observers that described the election as free and fair only witnessed the voting exercise on election day without knowing what transpired before the voting”.

He added: “If Koli hadn’t spoken out they would have taken this to Osun State and then Fayose betrayed Omisore again because they were now fighting for who will become the South west leader. This Mua’zu that Fayose was abusing gave us N20 million for Fayose’s primaries. That was why Mua’zu was saying he should stop talking or he will spill the bean. He started attacking Mua’zu after the party won because there was another N500 million he released for court cases which was supposed to be for the whole nation but Fayose thought it was for him alone so he went to meet Mua’zu for the N500 million. He actually reported to Jonathan twice until Mua’zu explained in the presence of Jonathan and that was the beginning of the Fayose and Mua’zu problems.”

On why he was coming up with the revelations, Aluko said: “Before the election, Fayose, Femi Bamishile and I jointly swore with the Holy Bible on a sharing formula after we must have won the election. We agreed that Fayose would be governor, Bamishile his deputy and I Chief of Staff. But the moment he got into office, Fayose reneged on the agreement and left me in the lurch. More worrisome is the fact that Fayose has derailed from the original Ekiti project we envisaged”.

It would be recalled that early this month, the high powered board of Inquiry set up by the Nigerian Army to investigate petitions and allegations of unprofessional conducts by some officers and soldiers during the 2014 Ekiti and Osun States gubernatorial elections, submitted its report to the Chief of Army Staff General Yakubu Buratai.

Aluko not worthy of response from sane minds —Fayose’s aide

Reacting to the allegations, Special Assistant to Ekiti State Governor on Public Communications and New Media, Lere Olayinka, described Aluko as a new distraction from the APC in Ekiti State, saying he did not deserve response from sane minds.

Olayinka said Aluko was beclouded by his desperation to seek revenge against Governor Fayose because of the governor’s refusal to make him his Chief of Staff, such that he was not mindful of committing the criminal offence of perjury.

The governor’s aide who said it was shameful that the APC had refused to accept a scandalous electoral defeat they suffered 19 months ago, asked whether it was also soldiers that rigged the 2015 presidential, senatorial, House of Representatives and State House of Assembly elections that the party lost woefully in Ekiti.

He said: “For Aluko to be taken seriously, he must first report himself to the police to be tried for perjury and committed to prison for three years, since what he is now saying is different from what he said under oath at the Election Tribunal being the only witness called by the PDP and Governor Fayose.

“If after giving evidence under oath at the tribunal that the Election was free, fair and credible and that security agents, including soldiers performed their duties creditably well, saying something else more than one year after, is an admittance by Aluko himself that he is not a stable character.”

“It is also a demonstration of the fact that giving the right offer tomorrow, the same Aluko can also address the press to deny all that he said today. He can even deny his own existence since he can deny what he said under oath just because he was not made Chief of Staff.

“Therefore, we won’t bother ourselves, responding to what a political parasite chooses to say because he wouldn’t have said what he is now saying today if he had been made Chief of Staff to Governor Fayose and I am sure that if he is called today and given the right offer, he will begin to sing another song.

“Also, the APC bad losers in Ekiti State should know that it will take more than recruiting and paying a disgruntled TKO Aluko to discredit an election adjudged by both local and international observers, including the United States government as free, fair and credible.

They will probably need to pay INEC to tell Nigerians that an election it conducted, in which an incumbent governor lost in his own local government was not credible.

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“As per his claim that $37 million was given to the governor for the election, the governor got financial support from various sources as is usual of anyone contesting election and it is not for him to begin to advertise in the media the level of support the governor received from individuals, corporate organizations or groups.

‘’However, if money belonging to the APC is missing and they suspect that the money was stolen by Dr Goodluck Jonathan to fund Ekiti State governorship election, they can approach the EFCC.”

(Vanguard)