The embattled former secretary of the Ekiti state chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Dr. Temitope Aluko, has revealed how Governor Fayose used the Nigerian Army to rig the governorship elections in the state.
According to reports, Aluko said in an apology to people of Ekiti, that what took place in the 2014 election was a high level of manipulation.
In a series of revelations, the former PDP secretary in the state said “The former President agreed with Fayose and summoned a security meeting at the Presidential Villa for the purpose of the election. Those at the meeting were the former Chief of Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshall Alex Badeh; then Chief of Army Staff, Lt.Gen. Kenneth Minimmah; and former National Chairman of the PDP, Alhaji Adamu Mu’azu.
“Others included Fayose, Senator Iyiola Omisore, then Minister of Police Affairs, Jelili Adesiyan and Obanikoro. At that meeting, the former President made it clear to the ex-Chief of Defence Staff that Fayose would stand for him (as Commander-In-Chief) in terms of providing security for the election.”
He said based on Jonathan’s directive, Fayose approached the former Commander of the Army Brigade in Akure, Brig. Gen. Dikko to rig the elections, but the officer refused.
Aluko said “But Gen. Dikko did not give us audience. He stated bluntly that he would not be available for such operation. So Fayose sponsored a petition against him which led to his replacement with Brig. Gen. Aliyu Momoh who was amenable to our plans.”
He also said “We went into the election with 1040 recognised soldiers and another batch of 400 unrecognised soldiers brought from Enugu by Senator Andy Uba. In addition, we raised 44 special strike teams brought in Toyota Hilux vans from Abuja and Onitsha. We made special stickers for the vehicles that conveyed members of the strike team and black hand bands for each of them.”
Adding that “Each strike team was made up of 10 members headed by a soldier and comprising soldiers, policemen, DSS operatives and Civil Defence corps. They were detailed to attack and arrest prominent APC chieftains in all the local governments. We set up anchorage, mainly residential houses, in every local government where the strike team members collected their welfare and other allowances. To encourage the strike team members, we gave them orders to share money and other valuables they could lay their hands on in the houses of APC chieftains they raided.
“Then we set up detention camps, mainly in primary schools where most of the APC chieftains were detained. Others were detained in police stations where the DPOs were friendly with us. We let them off after the election was over.”
Aluko further revealed that “A day to the election, we used the military to block all routes in the local governments and prevented APC chieftains, including former Rivers State Governor, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi from coming into Ekiti. So we ensured that no APC chieftain was in sight on election day. We provided polling agents for the APC in most of the polling units so we had no problem getting them to sign election results in the units.”
“All the local and foreign observers that described the election as free and fair only witnessed the voting exercise on election day without knowing what transpired before the voting,” the former PDP secretary said.
Dr. Temitope Aluko also alleged that the Ekiti State Governor, Ayo Fayose got a whopping $37m from ex-president Goodluck Jonathan to rig the 2014 governorship elections.
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