It is sad that for a long time running, for a state like Ekiti that is so blessed with people who can stand their own in the comity of academics anywhere in the world, finding the right people to pilot the affairs of the state has been a herculean task.
Many months back, one Sagir Koli, a Nigerian Army Captain, became an instant media celebrity after he released what he claimed was the audio evidence of how some top officials of the Federal Government and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) used the Nigerian Army and other security apparatuses to rig the 2014 governorship elections in both Ekiti and Osun States. The two elections were held in June, 2014 and August, 2014 respectively. Koli was officially redeployed from his base in Akure, Ondo State, as the 32 Artillery Brigade Intelligence Officer, to provide credible intelligence toward’s the success of Ekiti State governorship election.
In the widely reported news that gripped the entire nation by surprise, Koli gave details of all that transpired between himself, his commander, Brigadier General A. A. Momoh, two ministers and some politicians, prior to the elections. He had narrated how, at about 8.30pm on the day before the Ekiti election, Brig-Gen Momoh requested him (Koli) to accompany him to a place where the then Minister of State for Defence, Musiliu Obanikoro, wanted to see him. According to Koli, the meeting took place at the premises of Spotless Hotel in Ado-Ekiti, which served as coordinating campaign office for Ayodele Fayose, the PDP candidate. He said the meeting also had in attendance, other notable PDP bigwigs who were specifically drafted from Abuja, for the election.
Koli said that it was the outcome of what was discussed at that meeting that gave the party victory during the election that was held the following day in all the 16 LGAs. In short, the kernel of his expose was that they were forced to do a dirty job for the PDP with a threat of court martial if they failed to carry out the plans.
Since the revelation was made last year, so many things have happened. In the first instance, a good number of APC members have had one bad story or the other to relay to the public. The stories have revealed the ugly side of elections in Nigeria and the role played by money in all of them. It is so bad that you will find it difficult to believe that what we have been having in Nigeria are rarely elections as political contests in a democratic setting where people are made to vote freely without hindrance, fear or favour but a sort of warfare where money – huge amounts of money, arms and ammunition are deployed.
Aluko essentially revealed how the PDP rigged the governorship election. He said he was part of the team that prosecuted the election on behalf of the PDP, adding that he was the Chairman of the Intelligence and Security Committee for the Fayose Campaign Organisation.
The army has probed the involvement of some of its officers in both the Ekiti and Osun elections and some of its personnel have been indicted. This notwithstanding, the position of Fayose as the governor of Ekiti State, who is a major beneficiary of the charade that allegedly took place, has remained unshaken. This is largely because the issue of the said Ekiti elections had been decided long ago by the Election Petitions Tribunal, the Appeal Court and the Supreme Court. But what cannot be easily wished away, is the hue and cry about the role rigging played at the governorship election, an episode that has become a major feature of elections in Nigeria.
Last Sunday, one shameless Temitope Aluko, a former Secretary of the Ekiti State chapter of the PDP, shocked Nigerians when he alleged that former President Goodluck Jonathan gave Governor Ayo Fayose N4.7bn cash to prosecute the June 21, 2014 governorship election in Ekiti State. Aluko said the money was used to defeat the then Governor of the state, Kayode Fayemi, who was the governorship candidate of the APC. Aluko essentially revealed how the PDP rigged the governorship election. He said he was part of the team that prosecuted the election on behalf of the PDP, adding that he was the Chairman of the Intelligence and Security Committee for the Fayose Campaign Organisation. He also explained that he handled the waiver Fayose got from the PDP at the national level to enable him qualify to take part in the governorship primary.
To buttress the role he played in the emergence of Fayose, Aluko said he delivered the congresses that produced Fayose and was also the governor’s principal witness at the Election Petitions Tribunal. He said Jonathan initially gave Fayose $2m in March 2014 for the primary election, pointing out that this money was collected at the NNPC Towers, Abuja. According to Aluko: “It was about $35m, which is about N4.7bn he (Jonathan) gave us for the real election and for the primaries. He released $2m to Fayose. I have details of all I am saying and I was present when they brought the money and it was Senator Musiliu Obanikoro that brought the money, the $35m, which he delivered to Fayose at Spotless Hotel. I can name eight people that were there. We were all there because he said he would want us to take delivery so that there will be transparency and accountability. The $35m was taken to a bureau de change in Onitsha where it was converted to N4.7bn.”
What Ekiti needs today are people who are dedicated to offering selfless service, who have the love of the state and the people at heart, men and women who are patriotic enough to galvanise the populace for sustainable progress and development. It is certainly not these hungry charlatans prowling all over the place. At any rate, these confessions show the type of crooks masquerading as politicians in Nigeria.
Recall that the roiling Dasukigate has exposed the shenanigans of the PDP hierarchy’s mass looting of the nation’s treasury to foster the interest of the party during the last presidential election. The name of Obanikoro has suddenly propped up in the ever lengthening list of beneficiaries in that scandal that has held the whole world spellbound. Therefore, last Sunday’s confession by Aluko only shows that the raping of the treasury had been on long before the presidential election last year.
But why did it take Aluko such a long time to confess his sins against the people of Ekiti? The answer is simple. In the first instance, he and others in his camp agreed to do the dirty job for the love of the stomach. In fact, he allowed his stomach, rather than his head, to rule him. The man himself attested to this in his famous confession when he alluded to the fact that, “before the election, Fayose, Femi Bamishile and I jointly swore with the Holy Bible on a sharing formula after we must have won the election. We agreed that Fayose would be governor, Bamishile his deputy and I, as Chief of Staff. But the moment he got into office, Fayose reneged on the agreement and left me in the lurch. More worrisome is the fact that Fayose has derailed from the original Ekiti project we envisaged.”
It is quite clear that the major grouse of Aluko is the fact that he was left out in the sharing of the spoils of war after he was used for a dirty job to which he conceded out of greed and lack of commonsense. His talk that Fayose has derailed from the original Ekiti project they envisaged is just to curry unnecessary sympathy. If I may ask, what type of laudable project can come from a person like Aluko or even his other partner who was impeached as Speaker of the State House of Assembly sometimes ago? And the Bible was used to swear to falsehood. May God forgive them?
It is sad that for a long time running, in a state like Ekiti that is so blessed with people who can stand their own in the comity of academics anywhere in the world, finding the right people to pilot the affairs of the state has been a herculean task. What Ekiti needs today are people who are dedicated to offering selfless service, who have the love of the state and the people at heart, men and women who are patriotic enough to galvanise the populace for sustainable progress and development. It is certainly not these hungry charlatans prowling all over the place. At any rate, these confessions show the type of crooks masquerading as politicians in Nigeria.
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