TheCable

Babafemi Ojudu, governorship aspirant of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ekiti state, has accused Kayode Fayemi, another aspirant of threatening to cripple Ekiti if he is not given the ticket of the party for the July 14 governorship election.

While Ojudu is an adviser of President Muhammadu Buhari, Fayemi is a serving minister.

The APC governorship primary in the state had ended on an inconclusive note on Saturday following violence and destruction of election materials.

Reacting to the inconclusive election, Fayemi accused Ojudu and Bimbo Daramola, an ex-member of the house of representatives, of being too desperate.

“It is quite painful seeing some desperate elements trying so much to rubbish the party we all laboured to build to national reckoning, out of share lust for power,” Fayemi had said in a statement issued on his behalf by Yinka Oyebode, his media aide.

“If the quest for political position is to serve, then one wonders why the desperation being displayed by the likes of Femi Ojudu and Bimbo Daramola.”

But responding,  the Ekiti Rebirth Organisation (ERO), a group loyal to Ojudu, said if at all there is anyone desperate, it is Fayemi.

In a statement by Ranti Adebisi, its director general, the group accused Fayemi of engaging the services of suspected thugs that disrupted the election.

It said Fayemi’s statement is “another tantrum from a man whose political fortune has taken a deep slide in recent times and whose entire campaign strategy was built on lies, orchestrated violence and cheap anti-democratic tricks.”

“We implore the security agents who made several arrests at the scene to make public the identities of the people arrested and their sponsors. I can tell you 100 percent that they have no link whatsoever to the Ojudu campaign,” the statement read.

“Fayemi has been the candidate threatening violence since he joined the race last month. He threatened to cripple the state if not given the party ticket. He deployed security agents to intimidate delegates even during the conduct of the primaries.

“He is the aspirant that has been avoiding democratic test of popularity. Clearly, if there is anyone desperate, that person is Dr. Kayode Fayemi. Fayemi came late into this very contest to realise that the boat has left the shore. He is now looking for any straw to hang unto. He was shocked to realise that his much advertised hold on the state executive was a fluke.

“He was shocked that Ojudu was coasting home with a landslide so he has to haphazardly change from one rigging strategy to the other but Ekiti people are not fools.”

The aspirants seeking the APC ticket for the July 14 governorship poll in Ekiti have demanded that a new primary election be conducted, and be overseen by another election committee.

But the group, however, said: “If this election is conducted ten times Ojudu will win.”

TheCable was not able to reach Fayemi when this report was filed as his media aide did not respond to a mail sent.