Victor Ogunje in Ado Ekiti
The Ekiti South for Governor Forum, a group of Ekiti indigenes from the southern senatorial district of the state, who has been championing the cause for an indigene of the Ekiti south to emerge as governor, has called on traditional rulers, opinion and spiritual leaders to call a former minister of state for works, Group Accuses Adeyeye of Betraying Indigenes of Ekiti South to order .
The group described the attacks on the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Prof. Olusola Kolapo, whom they said is solely representing the interest of Ekiti south to emerge as governor of the state since its inception in 1996 as an act of betrayal.
The Coordinator of the Forum, Omotosho Okeya, while addressing newsmen in Ado Ekiti Thursday, said that Adeyeye has enjoyed robust opportunity to serve in several capacities as minister of state for works, national publicity secretary to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and chairman of the Ekiti State University Governing Council, among others, courtesy of the support of Governor Ayodele Fayose.
He said it is unbecoming of Adeyeye to continue to disparage the personality of Olusola who is also his brother from Ekiti south and who represents the interest of the senatorial district as the governorship standard-bearer of the PDP.
Okeya, who revealed that Adeyeye was given an ample opportunity to emerge as the PDP standard-bearer through a free, fair and credible primary but lost out as a result of his unpopularity, alleged that Adeyeye is pursuing selfish interest by joining the All Progressive Congress (APC) to work against an Ekiti South for governorship agenda which he has been actively involved in before his defection.
Urging Adeyeye to quit the stage for younger aspirants to also benefit from the PDP and stop the campaign of calumny against Olusola, the Forum said: “You will recall that Prince Adeyeye was Federal Minister of State for Works, chairman of the State Universal Basic Education, (SUBEB), chairman,Governing Council, Ekiti State University, and National Publicity Secretary of PDP.
Withall these, he has obviously enjoyed various juicy positions more than anybody in the PDP and should now honourably quit the stage foryounger and more vibrant people to run. It is in publicM records that he got all the positions with the support, effective collaboration and approval of
Governor Fayose, who he has also been disparaging and blackmailing.
“Nothing other than the selfish interest of Adeyeye would have prompted attacks on Olusola who emerged victorious in the PDP primary.
“Moreover, Adeyeye was given a level playing field to test his popularity in the primary that he personally commended as free and fair. He has only displayed bad loser’s syndrome and uncommon spirit of avarice and self centeredness by joining the opposition against a party that has made him.”
The Forum, which commended Governor Fayose for supporting the Ekiti South agenda for governor in Olusola, said further: “It is an irony that Adeyeye is now calling Olusola a crony of Fayose, but if every beneficiary of Fayose which includes Adeyeye were to be called a crony of the governor,
then, of course Adeyeye is a super crony of Governor Fayose.
“It is equally important to intimate Adeyeye and his handful of self centred cohorts that he is not the only suitable governorship material in Ekiti south. Olusola, an Obafemi Awolowo university trained cerebral and pragmatic scholar has creditably performed as Deputy Governor for about four years. He is therefore suitably qualified and competent to lead Ekiti State with his cognate political and administrative experience. His credible performance in education sector attests to his erudition and diligence. We trust that he will not disappoint Ekiti.
“We therefore call on royal fathers, opinion leaders and spiritual leaders in the South senatorial district to prevail on Prince Adedayo Adeyeye to desist from those acts that can scuttle the chances of Ekiti south in the July 14 poll.
“This is a golden opportunity for we in the south to govern Ekiti State for the first time since the state was created and Adeyeye who was once in the forefront of the agitation for a southern governor should not be the one to scuttle this chance. He should be reminded of how he lost his chance to
be senator in 1999, being the only Alliance for Democracy (AD) candidate
that lost the election in the entire South-west Nigeria. Something spiritual must be responsible for this and we advise that he should cleanse himself from this curse being alleged to be the reason for his persistent failure in electoral contests.
“We therefore urge the people of all the six local government areas, constituting Ekiti South to support Olusola, PDP candidate for governorship.”
