Posted by By LANRE SORUNKE, Ado Ekiti on
With the unreserved apology tendered by the embattled deputy governor of Ekiti State, Mr. Abiodun Aluko, resolution of the disagreement between him and Governor Ayo Fayose appears in sight.
With the unreserved apology tendered by the embattled deputy governor of Ekiti State, Mr. Abiodun Aluko, resolution of the disagreement between him and Governor Ayo Fayose appears in sight.
It would be recalled that Mr. Aluko made the face-off between him and his boss public on May 25. He had said, while speaking with newsmen in the state, that all was no longer well between him and the governor. But before this, Mr Aluko, who is from Ikere Ekiti, had paid heavily for the face-off as he was sidelined in the administration of the state.
For example, the supervision of local government chairmen and traditional rulers in the state, which fell under the purview of his office, was removed. The responsibility was transferred to the newly created Ministry of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs.
Not comfortable with this, the deputy governor had lodged a formal complaint with the Presidency through a petition sent to President Olusegun Obasanjo. The petition entitled "Appeal for intervention in the face-off between me and the governor of Ekiti," was dated May 25 and had EKS/DG 212/vol11/10 as its reference number.
In it, Mr Aluko complained that he had been facing humiliations in the hands of Governor Fayose. He said the governor "paradoxically on Monday May 23 stripped me of all my official functions and rendered me completely useless".
He further informed the president that at a state function, the governor publicly declared war on him, adding: "He accused me of disloyalty, contrary to his declaration four days earlier, without any specific allegation".
Aluko told President Obasanjo that the governor "ordered all the civil servants in the deputy governor's office to move out to a new office and leave me alone there while he had equally directed the Head of Service to stop all my rights and privileges as deputy governor and up till now I do not know my offence". He therefore urged the president to intervene to save him from further humiliation.
But in his reaction to all the allegations raised by his deputy, Governor Fayose denied having anything against Aluko, explaining that whatever reforms he might have carried out were in exercise of his constitutional power as the governor of the state.
However, Aluko fears that his political rival from Ikere Ekiti, who lost the position of deputy governor to him, was causing the problem between him and Governor Fayose. He once told newsmen in the state that because the politician lost to him in the contest for the deputy governorship of the state, the man had vowed to make things difficult for him.
However, those who are familiar with the emergence of Aluko as the deputy governor of the state are not surprised that he ran into problem with his boss. Analysts say that since Aluko emerged as a result of the hi-tech politics, which edged out Chief Dayo Okondo from the deputy g
overnorship race, it would not be strange if he falls from the office through the same hi-tech politics.
As later confirmed to Daily Sun, Aluko was never the candidate of Governor Fayose for the post of the deputy governor, but that of the party. This probably explains why the governor was rather on the side of Okondo, who was said to be his original candidate for the post, in his fight against Aluko. Though Okondo, who is a member of the Board of Trustees of the PDP and Chairman of the state's Local Government Service Commission, persistently denied having any grudge or anything against Aluko, people suspected that he has hands in the trouble the deputy governor is having at present.
Interestingly, Aluko has tendered an unreserved apology to Governor Fayose. A statement released in Ado Ekiti and personally signed by Aluko said it was regrettable that the face-off between him and the governor, which should have been an internal affair within the government and the party, was externalised and allowed to result in a press war, adding, "this situation would not have degenerated to the level it reached."
The statement gave kudos to Governor Fayose for giving room for dialogue, with a view to resolving the crisis. It remarked that there was nothing unusual in the disagreement between the governor and his deputy, saying that it had happened severally in the past and is still happening in many states of the federation and it shall continue to happen as everybody cannot see things from the same perspective.
Reacting to the apology tendered by the deputy governor, the chairman of PDP in the state, Chief Ropo Adesanya, welcomed the development but added that by now Aluko would have learnt that if one is working with somebody one must be loyal. He said only the governor could say whether the deputy was disloyal or not since they are working together.
In his own reaction, the secretary of the AD in the state, Chief Biodun Akin Fasae, said that as a democrat he welcomed the development and observed that democracy could only thrive in an atmosphere where there is peace and harmony.
He, however, doubted the genuineness of the reconciliation between the governor and the deputy. He said that given the antecedent of the PDP as a troublesome and quarrelsome party the reconciliation would never last.
Before travelling out of the country earlier in the week, Gov Fayose had handed over power to the Speaker of the House of Assembly who acted as governor for only seven hours, before Fayose directed from abroad that Aluko should take over. He said the decision was in deference to the intervention of President Olusegun Obasanjo.