Fayose, Adeyeye bicker over adoption of Olusola as PDP’s candidate

The Ekiti State Governor, Mr. Ayodele Fayose and the former Minister of Works, Mr. Dayo Adeyeye, have engaged each other in war of words over the endorsement of the state deputy governor, Prof. Kolapo Olusola, as the sole candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) for the 2018 governorship poll.

While Fayose said he could not be threatened or blackmailed by anybody over the adoption of his deputy, Adeyeye said the imposition was part of the plot to sell the party to the opposition, describing the ‘imposition’ as a nullity having infracted the party’s constitution and the Electoral Act 2010 as amended.

Fayose, who spoke in Ado-Ekiti yesterday through his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Idowu Adelusi, while reacting to a petition allegedly sent to the national leadership of the party by some people over Olusola-Eleka’s adoption, said: “To start with, as a party member and a citizen of Nigeria, I reserve the right to support any candidate for any elective post and even vote same in an election. Those who are crying over spilled milk should put their enemies in the position of a governor when they have such opportunity.

“I have no apology for my action because I have only exercised my rights and I have not breached any rule or law of the party or that of the country. If the petitioners are the major stakeholders and we are the minority, time will tell. However, we reiterate that anyone who feels disappointed by the action should wait for the party’s primary because it is their rights.”

However, Adeyeye, who dismissed the action of Fayose, assured the party that the endorsement of Olusola by the governor and a section of the party won’t stand, saying the national working committee of the party, led by Senator Ahmed Makarfi, would conduct a free and fair poll to elect a credible candidate.

Adeyeye, who spoke at a meeting with some members of the party at the headquarters of Prince Adedayo Adeyeye Movement (PAAM) in Ado Ekiti, said the shenanigans allegedly contrived by Fayose to arm-twist the party to accepting Olusola would not stand.

He said: “Governor Fayose said he was directed by God to anoint his deputy, but the Bible says woe betide a man who is saying when he had not been directed by God.”

I want to see that someone is trying to place a curse on himself here.“What the governor did was a flagrant breach of the constitution and the Electoral Act and it can’t stand. Fayose is a governor and whoever occupies such a bid position must learn how to protect the law. He should not take any action that will make him irresponsible.”

On the allegation raised by Fayose that he made him a minister, Adeyeye said: “Let me say this, it was on the account of what happened after the 2014 primary that made former President Goodluck Jonathan appease me with a ministerial position. So, Jonathan made me minister not Fayose.”