Posted by Yusuf Alli and Adesina Wahab on
President Olusegun Obasanjo may have recalled the Ekiti State Governor, Mr. Ayo Fayose, from his trip to Germany.
President Olusegun Obasanjo may have recalled the Ekiti State Governor, Mr. Ayo Fayose, from his trip to Germany.
A source in the Presidency told our correspondents on Sunday that the recall of the governor was precipitated by a petition to Obasanjo by a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Chief Afe Babalola, alleging threat to his life by some agents sponsored by the state government.
The source said that the President was disturbed by the consequence of Babalola's alarm on the security situation in the state.
He said, 'Babalola is not a frivolous person, his petition cannot be treated with kid gloves.
'The essence of recalling the governor from abroad is to enable him to respond to the issues raised in the petition by Babalola. The President wants to hear from the two sides."
He said, 'The meeting with the President by both parties may hold as soon as Fayose is back in Nigeria during the week."
Babalola is both the President's counsel and a force to reckon with in Ekiti politics.
In the last eight months, there has been growing tension in the state.
In September, some persons, allegedly sponsored by the state, attempted to kill the Chairman of Ado-Ekiti Local Government, Mr. Taye Fasubaa. Also, the governor has clashed with some influential groups and personalities in the state, including the Ewi of Ado-Ekiti, Oba Rufus Adejuyigbe.
The governor and his deputy, Mr. Abiodun Aluko, were recently locked in a disagreement, forcing the latter to petition Obasanjo.
But the crisis in the state reached its peak on May 28, 2005 when a councillorship bye-election claimed a life with some injured.
Babalola, in a separate petition to the Acting Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Sunday Ehindero, insisted that the attempt to assassinate him was real.
He said, 'Please permit me to bother you with this matter of grave foreboding to my person. The concerns shown to me by well-wishers within and outside Ekiti State in the last few weeks can no longer be ignored, nor can the many insinuations and threats made by Fayose to and concerning my person. I am afraid that unless I cry out now, I may be guilty of carelessness, negligence or complacency.
'I do not dabble into party politics. I am a nationalist, a patriot and an elder statesman, especially in my home state. I have played very significant roles in the old Ondo State and the present Ekiti State. I expended my time and personal resources to bring Federal presence to both old Ondo State and Ekiti State. So I should be concerned that the dreams I had are fulfilled."
He traced the genesis of his differences with the governor, to the last year's attempt on the life of Fasubaa.
'My problem with Fayose started shortly after the crises that engulfed the state following an attempt on the life of Fasubaa, the President had invited me and the parties directly involved to Abuja.
'I was just then returning from my holidays abroad, but His Excellency asked me to come. Because of the reverence I had, and still do have for Obasanjo, I waived the requirements of my own comfort and went to Abuja.
'In the resolution of the crisis then, and in order that neither party over-stepped his bounds any further in a way that would re-ignite the crisis, I stated that Fayose had no right to have deducted funds that ordinarily belonged to local governments. I never knew that by that I had hurt the governor where it pains him most.
'At the end of our deliberations that day, the governor assured our gathering that he would pay me a visit. Up till now he has not done so. And I am not bothered."
He further said that on April 28, 2005, he got four text messages on his Glo Mobile line 0805590033 threatening his life.
'The texts were sent at the same time on the same date through the same mobile number. My first reaction was to ignore them, however, in view of the concealed sender number and subsequent events, I am no longer comfortable allowing the matter to lie low or have it uninvestigated," he said.
The SAN added that Fayose felt slighted that Obasanjo still went ahead to inaugurate the lecture hall he donated to the University of Ado-Ekiti during the president's visit to the state in April.
This, he noted, was after all the efforts he made to include the event in the programmes of the president's visit were thwarted by Fayose.
'A few months after the attempted murder of Fasubaa, Fayose embarked on a programme of transfer of part of the Ekiti State Secretariat at Ado-Ekiti to his home town, Afao-Ekiti, situated in another local government. The Ewi in Council and Ado Progressive Union objected. Because I supported my people and objected to the transfer of the secretariat from Ado-Ekiti, he descended heavily on the Ewi and myself claiming that I was the person who influenced Obasanjo, to oppose the transfer.
'I built and donated an Auditorium to the Faculty of Law, University of Ado-Ekiti which was not accredited because of lack of necessary faculty buildings.
'I suggested to the Vice-Chancellor that since the President was coming to Ado-Ekiti, he should ensure that the project was commissioned by him, Fayose was furious at the suggestion. He boasted that it was over his dead body that the President would commission the project.
'However, His Excellency graciously commissioned the project which was an example per excellence of what Ekiti citizens should do for the state.
'Not only did he ensure that his state television and radio did not carry the news, he vowed to deal with me. In fact, any newscaster who broadcasts any view different from his does so at his peril.
'After the visit of the President, Fayose made a series of television propaganda in which he referred to the visit of the President and referred to me as the useless Elder Statesman from Ado-Ekiti living at Ibadan who told lies to the President about his chicken programme and who will be eliminated."
The Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Mr. Idowu Adelusi, in a telephone interview, described the allegation as unfounded and spurious.
He stated that it was difficult knowing whose interest Babalola was protecting.
The CPS noted that the governor would not join issue with the SAN as a mark of respect for his age and status in the society.
He said the governor had impacted positively on the lives of the people of the state and Ado-Ekiti with many projects, adding that no amount of distraction would prevent him from continuing with his good works.
Adelusi said that many notable indigenes of the state including the Speaker of the old Ondo State House of Assembly, Mr. Clement Akinyemi, who got the threat letter, described it as a mere propaganda.
Reacting to the development in the state, a human rights' activist, Mr. Femi Falana, asked the President to disband a hit squad allegedly established by the governor.
Falana said, 'Having regard to Fayose's violent disposition, the planned assassination of Babalola has not come to me as a surprise.
'While congratulating the 76-year-old chief, I hereby call on the President for the umpteenth time, to disband Fayose's hit squad whose members are well-known to the security forces."
The Punch, Monday June 13, 2005