Pro-Fayose rally shuts Ado-Ekiti

The governor of Ekiti State, Mr Ayodele Fayose, led non-formal sector members of the state numbering over 5,000, under the aegis of the Ekiti State Private Sec­tor Union to embark on solidarity rally across the state capital.

The rally which has be­come a daily occurence in the state, was planned to counter the one staged by the rival All Progressives Congress (APC), to show the popularity of the gov­ernor.

Most business activi­ties were disrupted due to the blockade of the ma­jor highway linking most parts of the state. Fayose was on a road walk across the densely populated Oja Oba market for about an hour.

The occasion also wit­nessed fanfare as canopies were set on the highway and a local musician, Dayo Maxima, was playing to the admiration of the young, the old folks and artisans who were on hand.

Meanwhile, the gover­nor has again warned Pres­ident Muhammadu Buhari against using the Econom­ic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to settle political scores.

The governor said his current travails in the hands of the EFCC and alleged startling revela­tions by the agency that he procured N1.5 billion multi-billion property us­ing phoney companies was masterminded by the APC for the purpose of dimming the chances of his party during the 2018 governorship poll.

Fayose said this in Ado Ekiti yesterday during a well-attended rally orga­nized by a newly formed Ekiti State Private Sector Union, which was an amal­gamation of all informal unions in the state.

The chairman of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), Mr Clement Adekola, his counterpart in the Road Transport Employers’ Association of Nigeria (RTEAN) , Mr Samuel Agbede, and the leader of Okada Riders Association of Nigeria, Mr Dahunsi Olaniyi, were in­augurated as the chairman, secretary and vice chair­man respectively, among other executive members.

Fayose, who inaugu­rated the executive of the newly formed association, boasted that the Buhari-led government would crum­ble if it wages war against him under the guise of anti-corruption war.

“They said I collected the sum of N1.3 billion from the office of the for­mer National Security Ad­viser, Col Sambo Dasuki, to fund my election. Some even said I collected it through Mr Musiliu Oban­ikoro.

Let me put it on records that I did not know Col Dasuki and Obanikoro has not come out openly to in­dict me, because he has not returned from abroad.

“They said similar thing in 2006. It was all about second term then, because they didn’t want me to contest for second term. They said the N1.3b proj­ect which I initiated was a scam, but God brought me back. The APC and EFCC conspirators took me be­fore a Judge and I got jus­tice,” he said.

Fayose added that “Somebody from Ekiti gave President Buhari N1.5bn for campaign, but today he is being seen as a saint. When you want to campaign or marry, people will give you money and my own can’t be an exemp­tion. I am not afraid of in­carceration or death.

The unions, which de­clared support for Fayose, warned the APC and the EFCC against pursuing political vendetta against the governor. The union has over 80,000 member­ship across 40 unions.-The Authority.