Posted by By ABDULFATAH OLADEINDE on
Division appears to have crept in as the coalition plotting the removal of Governor Ayodele Fayose has vowed not to honour President Olusegun Obasanjo's instruction on who succeeds the embattled Ekiti State helmsman.
Division appears to have crept in as the coalition plotting the removal of Governor Ayodele Fayose has vowed not to honour President Olusegun Obasanjo's instruction on who succeeds the embattled Ekiti State helmsman.
The coalition, which on Friday, September 29 issued a notice to impeach Fayose over allegations of corrupt practices and abuse of power, met on Sunday morning with a resolve not to allow Deputy Governor, Mrs Biodun Olujimi succeed Fayose, as instructed by President Obasanjo. The President was also said to have directed that the Speaker of the Ekiti Assembly, Friday Aderemi, be made deputy governor.
The president had walked out during a meeting with the Ekiti legislators at Aso Rock last Friday, telling them not to return to the Villa, if his instructions were not carried out.
Not happy with Aso Rock's position, the coalition, comprising the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ekiti State lawmakers, National Assembly members from the state, a clique of Ekiti leaders close to the presidency and a few traditional rulers, had maintained that the original premise on which the impeachment plot was hinged was that the Speaker, Aderemi, would be governor, while Majority Leader, Mr Babade Kayode, would be installed deputy governor.
Daily Sun gathered that some opposition figures outside the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) were working with the Ekiti Assembly members.
It was further learnt that the PDP leaders at the zonal and national levels were unhappy with the developments, but are tagging along because they did not want to offend Obasanjo.
Their disappointment, according to sources, is that Governor Fayose, who was loyal to the President during the 3rd term attempt, was being sacrificed.
At the meeting held on Sunday morning, the key actors in the coalition vowed to surprise Obasanjo.
Sources close to the meeting revealed that the coalition members swore never to bow to the President's wishes.
The Ekiti legislators were said to have maintained at the meeting that they signed the impeachment notice on the strength of a promise by the EFCC that Aderemi and Kayode would be made governor and deputy respectively.
According to the sources, the lawmakers said rather than have Olujimi imposed on them, they would allow Fayose to continue in office, if he promises not to revenge.
They were said to have preferred Fayose to be spared than have Olujimi, a ‘new comer', imposed on them as governor.
The lawmakers feared the President would use Olujimi against them later. 'Anything can happen to us later," they reportedly argued.
Furthermore, the lawmakers were said to have argued that the Fayose option would be better, if he agreed not to seek re-election in 2007.
With President Obasanjo, who is godfather to the Ekiti legislators, saying he would not give them audience again if they failed to implement his directive, developments appear turning in Fayose's favour.
There have been several efforts to get Governor Fayose to resign but as at press time, there is no indication he would.
Sources close to the governor said he could not resign because doing so without responding to the allegations levelled against him by the EFCC amounted to an admission of guilt.
Latest developments have confirmed speculations that Fayose's travails were from higher quarters.
It was learnt that some opponents had told President Obasanjo that Fayose did not support the third term project wholeheartedly, prompting his being listed in the presidency's black book.
Meanwhile, as the Ekiti speaker who is being quartered by the EFCC along with his colleagues in Lekki, Lagos, is already being addressed as ‘His Excellency,' there may be re-alignments and change of loyalty over the next few days.