Some leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) including its national chairman, Prince Uche Secondus, Governors Ayodele Fayose (Ekiti), Nyesom Wike (Rivers) and Ibrahim Dankwabo (Gombe) have warned against rigging the July 14 governorship election in the state.
They vowed that any attempt to manipulate the electoral process would lead to crisis.
Speaking in Ado Ekiti at the inauguration of the new governor’s office in Ado-Ekiti on Friday, they vowed that deployment of soldiers and police won’t help the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Dr Kayode Fayemi from losing the poll.
According to Fayose, the alleged poor performance of the President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration is an indicarion that the APC-led federal government is not a better alternarive to the PDP.
Wike was supported by his counterparts from Akwa Ibom , Mr. Emmanuel Udom, that of Gombe State, Alhaji Ibrahim Dakwambo as well as Abia State governor, Dr Okezie Ikpeazu during the inauguration of the new office.
Fayose, who spoke before the inauguration of the edifice insisted that the APC candidate for the July 14 election and former governor of the state Kayode Fayemi, had never won any election in the history of the state.
He said: “Oni won the election but Justice Ayo Salami gave it to Dr. Fayemi. They want to bring him back now; I want to say that they will fail."
Wike alleged that Fayemi was not coming to the state to contest election but only coming with the rigid mindset to rig election.
“They are not coming to contest, because they know they can’t win election. What they wanted to do is to rig and the good people of Ekiti must resist this. Your votes is your power and don’t allow them to steal it”, he said.
Fayose spoke further that the last convention that produced the National Chairman of the PDP, Chief Uche Secondus, was not by mistake, saying the choice of the Rivers State born party leader was made to save the PDP from impending doom.
“Let me say that with what we are seeing in Nigeria today, it was glaring that Nigerians has not found alternative to PDP; today, they are regretting for voting APC.
“Since I came on October 16, 2014, I have not committed Ekiti to one Naira debt. I left N10.4 billion cash in the coffers of Ekiti when I left in 2006, but today, the story has changed.
“I can say without fear of contradiction that over 70 percent of the infrastructures in Ekiti were built by me, I want someone to contradict this”.
On the anti-graft war being waged by President Buhari, Fayose said: “Our country has no problem of corruption.
They said they are visiting the past, let them probe up to the military era, because it has to go down the line.
“We have had enough of blame-game under Buhari. Everyday, they shout of Jonathan, they better face the reality that they were only affected by incompetence and lack of capacity to deliver and stop blaming past leaders”.
Reminiscing on the June 21, 2014 governorship election, Fayose said: “They said you rigged election for me after open acceptance by Fayemi that he was rejected by Ekiti electorate.
“They went to Supreme Court, I defeated them. They said when President Buhari comes he would. If you like bring Army, police, I don’t care. The God of Israel is our strength and we shall be victorious”.
He promised that he won’t be a burden on his successor or interfere in how he governs the state, saying: “I won’t come here to be a burden to you (Olusola), I will only come here to support you. Let me also say that I am not going to the Senate, I will return to my village in Afao-Ekiti after leaving office.
“Ekiti people must be determined, because you want to cross the Red Sea. They are bringing a man who put us into debt. We are going to be paying N1billion monthly as debt repayment till 2036.
“This election will go peacefully. Ekiti people, don’t worry yourselves. I decided to take Olusola and Deji Ogunsakin for the joint ticket because they are youths and I believe in action and not in mouthing.”
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