Poll shift: Presidency polluting military, says Fayemi

Poll shift: Presidency polluting military, says Fayemi

Former Governor of Ekiti State, Dr Kayode Fayemi, and a member of House of
Representatives, Bamidele Faparusi, have accused the Presidency of polluting the military to make it force the Independent National Electoral Commission to
postpone the general elections, against the wishes of Nigerians.

Fayemi also said more revelations would come on how Governor Ayodele Fayose, former Minister of State for Defence, Mr Musiliu Obanikoro; Sen. Iyiola Omisore;
Minister of Police Affairs, Mr Jelili Adesiyan and the military allegedly rigged the
June 21 Governorship poll against him.

He spoke on Sunday after a service marking his 50th birthday at St. Martins
Catholic Church, Isan Ekiti, in his country home.

The former Governor expressed shock that a sacred institution like the military
could be influenced to subvert a democratic process, saying it portends danger for the country.

He said, “It was apparent that military and presidency boxed INEC to a tight
corner by merchants of retrogression to get the postponement to achieve their
devilish motives.

“I believe what we are expected to do as democrats must be those things that
would strengthen democracy. For military to be saying that it would overcome
insurgency it had failed to curtail in five years, was that not standing logic on its
head? You could see that Nigerians are very unhappy.

“To me, this is more of a civilian coup against democracy because for military to
have said that it cannot provide security for INEC to prosecute the election
implies that it is hands in gloves with the presidency. This is a travesty and a
danger to our democracy
“Military is a product of Nigeria and not the father of Nigeria and it must do
everything to protect this democracy.”

Fayemi, however, vowed that he and other pro-democracy activists and all lovers
of democracy would resist attempts to derail the country’s constitutional
democracy.

The ex-Governor said the audio tape released by Sahara Reporters revealing how
some Peoples Democratic Party’s chiefs allegedly rigged the governorship election
in Ekiti should not be a surprise to anybody.

“You know that I said I accepted the outcome if truly it was the wish of the Ekiti
people because I was privy to a lot of things that happened that put a question
mark on the conduct of the election. But more revelations will come in few days
to come.”

Bamidele, who described the poll shift as “provocative, unjustifiable and
suspicious,” said it would be difficult for the military to overcome the Boko Haram
it had failed to overcome in five years, within a spate of six weeks.

“Even the war-torn Afghanistan, Pakistan and Syria conducted elections. So, for
INEC to postpone elections just because 14 out of the 774 local governments are
being ravaged by insurgents is suspicious and Nigerians must be watchful.”

Another chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, Mr. Segun Osinkolu, described
the poll shift as a “deliberate infliction of injuries against Nigerians.”

In a press release made available to newsmen on sunday in Ado Ekiti, Mr Osinkolu
said, “It is an unfortunate and abberration for somebody or a group of People to
hide somewhere and be working on how to continue to draw Nigeria backward
when Nigerians both at home and in the diaspora are more than prepared to elect
their new leaders at all levels.”
While commending the INEC Chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega, for the preparation, he
advised him to get rid of the bad eggs and unscrupulous elements that could
sabotage his efforts at giving Nigerians the most credible, free, fair and
acceptable elections.