Fayose Vs Olujimi: Ex-Gov Consults Marabouts, Tests Strength In Market In Scramble For Atiku’s Money
After succeeding in cheating PDP delegates at the last national convention in Abuja, and after doing same at the presidential primaries in Port Harcourt, including duping other PDP leaders of Kolapo Olusola’s campaign cash in the last governorship election in Ekiti State, former Governor Ayodele Fayose is back on the block again, and this time, in a fraudulent scheme to corner Alhaji Abubakar Atiku’s campaign cash and render other leaders onlookers in a presidential campaign that will cost the PDP’s candidate fortune.
Fayose is battling to save his political life with his erstwhile Deputy, Biodun Olujimi, who has seized the leadership of the state with PDP national leadership’s backing. But desperate to stay alive politically, Fayose is fighting back, intent to seize control of the party in the state to enable him lead Atiku’s campaign expected to turn the streets of Nigeria to mobile ATMs.
Few days ago, Olujimi hopped to a public space, claiming the state leadership of the party. She was supported by the larger faction of the party backed by PDP’s constitution.
Almost at the same time, Fayose was humiliated and almost lynched in the church wedding service of the daughter of the Ewi of Ado-Ekiti.
Sources said that aggrieved PDP members who Fayose took their money without fuilfilling his promises to them, those who lost their houses without compensation, including workers who were owed salaries arrears of between six and 10 months, laid siege to the church to humiliate Fayose. And they did.
Sources close to Fayose said his humiliation in the church troubled him to no end at a time he was trying to convince the national leadership of PDP that he was in charge while Olujimi was also intent on taking the shine off him.
Fayose hurriedly left Ado-Ekiti thoroughly shaken after he escaped mob attack and since then, he had developed various schemes that will erase the mob’s bitter attack experience in Ado-Ekiti.
The sources said that after that humiliating experience, Fayose opted for his usual reliance on rituals to achieve fraudulent objectives.
One source explained: “After Ado-Ekiti residents attacked Fayose, he was greatly troubled because the attack happened at the time that Olujimi was already adopted by the majority of party leaders to lead Atiku’s campaign in Ekiti State.
“By that singular act, Fayose knew that the national leadership of the party would not defer to him to lead Atiku’s campaign and so he decided on spiritual option to engage his usual marabouts from Iseyin and Ilobu to prepare rituals that will endear him to PDP members and Ekiti people in general.
“That done, he also engaged his foot soldiers in Ekiti to assemble women at Bisi Egbeyemi Market at an appointed date for an appearance where his popularity will be staged to convince the national leadership of the party that he is still in charge.”
According to sources, one Sunday from Afao-Ekiti was in charge of leading the marabouts to perform their crowd-pulling rituals in three markets while other aides were in charge of mobilisation of women for a fee to sing Fayose’s praises after hitting the market.
Others in the schedule of activities of the former governor included the hiring of cameramen who were to record the arranged enthusiastic women and send the copy of the video to Abuja to prove that he was still in charge.
And so on the appointed day, Fayose’s fraudulent arrangement worked, as rented crowds of arranged supporters started shouting his praises and cameramen were recording the charade, which Fayose planned to send to Abuja.
But second day, a faction of PDP, aggrieved former political appointees and those who lost their homes to Fayose’s projects without compensation, including opposition members, stormed Bisi Egbeyemi Market to teach the rented crowds of market women a bitter lesson of their lives for their greed to praise a former governor who impoverished Ekiti people and left the state in N120b debts, including non-payment of salaries for between six and 10 months while EFCC has since seized about 30 houses that Fayose criminally acquired.
But as it has turned out, Fayose appears to walking on a slippery political field in Ekiti State, as all PDP lawmakers in the House of Assembly have rejected his leadership of the party, rooting for Olujimi as a leader that will not corner Atiku’s campaign funds for personal use.
They declared Fayose as greedy, even as they accused him of always pursuing selfish agenda with previous campaign funds.
For Olujimi’s stance and the support she is garnering across the state to lead PDP in apparent threat to Fayose’s domination, the former governor has taken to the social media campaigning against the PDP candidate in the February 16, 2019 National Assembly election.
In a televised speech on social media, Fayose urged his supporters not to vote for Olujimi, the candidate of his own party. He did not offer any reason.
It will be recalled that Fayose, during the national convention of PDP in Abuja that produced Uche Secondus as the National Chairman of the party, collected $10,000 (N3.65m) for each of the 92 delegates from Ekiti State but he gave each a pittance of N50,000 while at the Port Harcourt convention that produced Atiku as presidential candidate, he also short-changed delegates by removing $2,800 from the $5,000 given to the delegates by Governor Aminu Tambuwal, who contested against Atiku.
Up till now, no one knew how he disbursed billions of naira he collected for Olusola Eleka’s election in the July 14 governorship poll.
Will Fayose’s trick work again in the cornering Atiku’s campaign funds? Time will tell.
THE EAGLE WATCH
January 10, 2019