Politics
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Ayo Fayose, governor of Ekiti State and Adewale Omirin, speaker of the Ekiti State House of Assembly are intensifying the war of attrition between the Peoples Democratic Party and the All Progressives Party in the state
| By Maureen Chigbo | Nov. 3, 2014 @ 01:00 GMT |
THE war of attrition between the Peoples Democratic Party and the All Progressives Congress in Ekiti State is still raging even with ex-governor Kayode Fayemi’s handing over the reign of government to his successor Governor Ayo Fayose a fortnight ago. The fight now is between Governor Fayose, the antagonist and the State House of Assembly with the incumbent speaker as the chief protagonist.
The battle line was drawn shortly after the swearing of Fayose when the state legislators who were mostly from the APC went on recess. Fayose cried foul accusing them of conspiring to ground his government because they don’t want to pass his budget to enable him to function effectively. The house was also accused of plotting to impeach Fayose.
But now, Omirin is accusing Fayose of witch hunting and victimising hi opponents, vowing that such will not make him abandon APC for the PDP. He alleged that the Fayose administration on Tuesday, October 21, closed some filling stations in the state for allegedly constituting environmental hazard including his own. This prompted Omirin through Wole Olujobi, his special adviser on Media, to issue a statement on Wednesday in Ado Ekiti, saying that he had fulfilled all the necessary environmental laws before locating his filling station and that he got the necessary approval. He wondered why the governor is starting early in the day to victimise his opponent, adding that intimidation and coercion will not force him to betray the people that voted him into office.
He alleged that Joseph Olugbemi, who defected to PDP on the governor’s inauguration day, had told him two days after, that Fayose had made up his mind to close his filling station because he refused to join PDP. “I had earlier told the governor that in the interest of Ekiti people, the House of Assembly would work with him to deliver dividends of democracy to the good people of Ekiti State. I called the governor to confirm what the honourable member told me about the plan to close my filling station. He denied having such plans, swearing that he would not engage in the victimisation of his opponents. But only yesterday, the governor ordered the closure of the filling station, citing environmental reasons,” the statement quoted Omirin as saying.
The Speaker said he had a background of political fidelity anchored on progressive democratic practice, adding that he would not abandon the principle in pursuit of selfish agenda diametrically opposed to the ethos of his political belief. He said the present atmosphere in the state does not call for high-handedness and persecution against perceived opponents, but a collective pursuit of common goals to deliver good governance to Ekiti people. He stressed that attacks on the opponents, particularly the lawmakers, would only create conditions inimical to a cordial relationship between the Executive and the Legislature necessary for the smooth running of government.
However, Idowu Adelusi, chief press secretary to Governor Fayose, has dismissed the allegation. “What Omirin said is totally false; there is no iota of truth in it. The essence of closing down those petrol stations is to ensure sanity and safety in the state capital. “While some petrol stations were sited on public properties or residential areas, everybody knows the danger it can cause if there is fire outbreak which had happened in some towns before, leading to loss of lives and property.
“Even in Lagos State, petrol station is not sited anyhow. Omirin should have nothing to fear because the Governor has nothing against him,” he said, adding that the speaker had no right to own private business while in office.
Also, Lere Olayinka, special assistant to the Ekiti State governor on Information and Social Media, has described claim by the speaker that his filling station, T5 Petrol Station was sealed up for political reasons as the height of mischief and misrepresentation of facts. He said as a public office holder, “the Speaker does not have legal rights to own private business, and one wonders how someone prohibited by law to own private business while in office can be said to be the owner of a filling station that is under construction.”
Olayinka, in a statement issued in Ado-Ekiti on October 23 and made available to Realnews magazine, said; “as against the falsehood being spread by the Speaker and his party, the All Progressives Congress, APC, the Speaker’s Petrol Station, alongside three others were sealed up for contravening environmental laws.”
The four filling stations affected by the government action are INIS Integrated Services located along Iworoko Road, Ado-Ekiti; belonging Churchill Adedipe, NIPCO Petrol Station (Morolu Global Services), Isato-Oke in Ado-Ekiti, belonging to Mr Oloko, T5 Petrol Station, Ajilosun in Ado-Ekiti, owned by Adewale Omirin and PHENROSE Limited, Ajilosun in Ado-Ekiti, owned by Gilbert Igweka.
Olayinka, who advised the Speaker to thread softly so as to prevent himself from being pushed into perdition, added that; “Code 2 (b) of the Code of Conduct Act prohibits public office holders like the Speaker from participating in management or running of any private business, profession or trade. “Therefore, those making noise in the media that Omirin owns a filling station are only trying to throw him inside the web of the Code of Conduct Tribunal, and the noisemakers won’t be available to help him out of the mess they would have put him.”
For clarity’s sake, four filling stations were sealed-up and one of them belonged to an Igbo man. Are they also saying that the Igbo man is a politician and being forced by the governor to join PDP, he asked. “Are they also saying that Mr. Oloko, the owner of NIPCO Petrol Station (Morolu Global Services) is a member of the APC and a serving member of the Ekiti State House of Assembly?”
He urged leaders of the APC, especially the immediate past governor, Fayemi and his godfather, Senator Bola Tinubu to accept their fate and let peace reign in Ekiti State.
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