I'M Ready For PDP, Fayose Declares
From Ifedayo Sayo, Ado-Ekiti and Wole Shadare Lagos
POLITICAL actors from different camps in Ekiti State and the South-West zone yesterday spoke on their game plan for re-run governorship election in the state.
The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr. Dimeji Bankole said as the fourth in the hierarchy of the country's political leadership, he would work with the Federal Government to ensure that there was no breakdown of law and order during the exercise.
Bankole said the government would not allow a repeat of Jos, Plateau State, crisis in Ekiti.
For former governor of the state, Mr. Ayodele Fayose, the rerun polls offers him the opportunity to show the PDP that he is not a spent force in the politics of the state.
Even as the court has granted his request to travel abroad for treatment, Fayose said yesterday that he would not leave the state until after the re-run election.
Fayose vowed to deliver the state to the Action Congress governorship candidate, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, saying he would definitely make a point that he remains the main issue in Ekiti politics that anyone seeking political office in the state can ignore to his peril.
Bankole told journalists at the Presidential Wing of the Murtala Mohammed Airport (MMA), Lagos, that as the number four man in the country, he had every responsibility to intervene in the Ekiti crisis even as he urged Yoruba elders to wade into it.
He urged the people to learn from the political crisis in the then Western region 1963 nicknamed Operation wetie and the Akin Omoboriowo saga in the Old Ondo State in1983.
He said for Nigeria to be at peace, the government must be seen to be firm in any action it took in the country and allayed fears that the Ekiti election would be bloody.
Bankole said: "Don't forget that Ekiti, not too long ago was for six months under emergency rule and those political players are still on the field today. Don't forget 1983, as far as Omoboriowo was concerned. Don't forget Operation Wetie here in 1963. I have a responsibility not to allow any of these things happen again. So, I am not joining issues with the elders in the Yoruba land; I wasn't brought up like that.
"I have a responsibility...I am asking our elders to wade into Ekiti crisis by ensuring that there is no breakdown of law and order. Government will have to stand firm and be seen to stand firm, so that when someone asks me this question in 10 years time, I can say yes, Dimeji Bankole did every thing to ensure that law and order did not break down in Ekiti whether it is AC, or PDP."
On his alleged governorship ambition in Ogun State in 2011, Dimeji said he was not interested in the race. "I have never had plans to become governor and I am not interested in Ogun State governorship," he said.
In a chat after the burial of his late father, Pastor John Oluwayose, Fayose said the decision of the PDP to reject his conditions for working for its governorship candidate Segun Oni was a grave one, which he must show to them.
Fayose said he enjoys the support of majority of members of the PDP in the state, adding that it is only on the day of the election that the PDP would know that majority of its members have pitched their tent with Fayemi.
He described as cowardly the attack on his people at Afao-Ekiti by suspected PDP thugs, who were on the campaign team of Oni last Wednesday evening, saying they knew that he was not in the community at the time they struck.
The ceremony was attended by Fayemi, his wife, Bisi, governorship running mate, Mrs. Funmi Olayinka with her husband, Lanre, former acting governor of the state, Chief Friday Aderemi, former governor of Old Ondo State, Mr. Bamidele Olumilua, AC chieftains, Chief Biodun Fasae, Mr. Bimbo Daramola among others.
Overwhelmed by the huge turnout of dignitaries for the ceremony, Fayose said his supporters were not intimidated by the attack, adding that the invasion was a signal to the people to be prepared for the worst if PDP and Oni decided to go violent during the election.
He said everything would be done to prevent the rigging machinery of the PDP from having its way, pointing out that the PDP had lost the election because it no longer enjoyed the confidence of the people.
