#Ekitigate: How I sacrificed my Ward for Fayose’s rigging plan – Aluko

Dr. Temitope Aluko

The embattled Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ekiti State, Dr. Tope Aluko, has revealed that that he lost his unit in Iyin Ekiti, during the June 21, 2014 governorship poll, as part of a strategy for Governor Ayo Fayose to escape post-election crisis, “so as to perfect the rigging plan for the poll.”

He also denied allegation by Fayose that he had been bribed with millions of naira from the All Progressives Congress (APC) to bring down his government.

Aluko, who hails from Iyin Ekiti, the country home of former governor Niyi Adebayo, and the candidate of the Labour Party, during the governorship poll, Hon. Opeyemi Bamidele, was reacting to Fayose’s statement, which was made through his Special Assistant on Public Communication, Lere Olayinka, on Wednesday, that branded Aluko as an insignificant politician in Ekiti, who lost in his unit and ward during the poll, where Fayose won in 158 out of the 177 wards across the state.

Speaking in Ado-Ekiti, on Thursday, to clear air on the matter, Aluko said it was a deliberate strategy, which was adopted to allow the then governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi of the All Progressives Congress, and Bamidele to win in their respective wards, so as not to give room for suspicion.

He disclosed how he and some others chieftains co-ordinated the election rigging and added that “being  the leader and General of Fayose’s political structure they had agreed that those two wards must be allowed to stay, so that we could have  effective grounds to prove our case in court and have a smooth sail at the election petition tribunal. My attention has been drawn to why I lost my ward during the June21 Governorship poll.

“But I want it to be on records that losing my ward was part of the post-election strategy, which involved issues of Judges and judgement, because we were aware that Fayemi will go to court after losing the election. We agreed that we should allow Fayemi and Bamidele to win in their wards, because you are all aware that these are the only two candidates that could take us up and, incidentally, I was from the same ward with Bamidele and former governor Adebayo.

“It was a way of having genuine reasons in court that made me lost my ward. That was why we distributed a sum of N200, 000 per polling unit during the election, but we only gave N50, 000 to the polling units of our opponents and this forms part of our argument at the Election Petition Tribunal”, he explained.

On the allegation raised by some lawmakers in Ekiti, on Wednesday, in Ibadan, claiming that there was a new attempt to arrest 11 of them as part of a plot to impeach Fayose, Aluko said that, “I know Fayose’s strategy, he was only seeking attention. If you get to Ado- Ekiti now, all the lawmakers are moving around freely. I didn’t know what their intention is by heating up the polity and threatening people around, including me. I am not afraid of them; I’m ready for them any time, any day”, he said.