EKITI 2014: APC, not PDP planning to rig, party replies Tinubu

      The Peoples Democtatic Party (PDP) in Ekiti State, has accused the All Progressives Congress (APC), of being the party planning to rig the June 2014 governorship election in the state, claiming that it had “lost the hope of winning the election democratically.”
The secretary of PDP in the state, Dr Tope Aluko, said this in a statement made available to newsmen in Ado Ekiti on Thursday.
Ekiti PDP was reacting to a statement credited to the national leader of APC, Senator Bola Tinubu, who was quoted to have alleged that the PDP had concluded plans to rig the June 21 governorship election.
According to Aluko, “it is the Ekiti State APC that is planning to rig the June 21 governorship poll because it has lost the hope of winning the election democratically.”
He said “all that the APC had done, the multiple registration, falsifying of figures and how it had procured voter’s cards for foreigners it imported to the state during voter card registration
exercise, have been uncovered by the PDP.”
Aluko said: “I want to assure Tinubu that Ekiti people are fully prepared to roast to ashes any APC member whether in Ekiti or thugs imported to rig the poll or cause mayhem. Tinubu should understand that this is Ekiti State and not Lagos and the APC should never think it possess monopoly of violence. This is a stern warning to Tinubu.
“ At the appropriate time, we will expose the frauds which the APC has done in connection with active support of Ekiti Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).”
Tinubu said the APC won’t go to court to challenge election results. Aluko replied, saying, Tinubu had said that because Ayo Salami and the likes are no longer in the judiciary to use the court to rig for the APC.”
On the persistent attack of PDP members and supporters during campaign tour by the party’s governorship candidate, Mr Ayo Fayose, the PDP scribed said that the police had been informed and if nothing is done about it, the party will take the matter to Abuja.
Aluko continued, “We have always prevailed on our supporters not to retaliate and you know there is a limit to everything. The APC want to set the state ablaze and cause pandemonium.
Debate: I’m ready for Fayemi —Fayose
The Ekiti State Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) governorship candidate, Mr Ayodele Fayose, has told Governor Kayode Fayemi of the state that he was ready for a debate on developments in the state education, at a short notice.
Fayose, who had described the education policy of Fayemi administration as a failure because the state came 34th position in the just released WAEC exams result, said that he was ready for Fayemi any time.
According to a press statement issued in Ado Ekiti, on Thursday, by Fayose’s spokesman, Mr Idowu Adelusi, the PDP candidate said that he was prepared to meet Fayemi not only on education but on all areas because his administration had impoverished the people of Ekiti State morally, socially and economically.
Fayose said that Governor Fayemi stood for the elite and that Ekiti people don’t want a governor ruling them from abroad.
He continued, “ teachers are the vehicle driving education but there is a disconnect between the teachers and Fayemi administration.
“How can a governor,  who want to achieve in the area of education be at a loggerhead with teachers just as the relationship between Fayemi and Ekiti teachers as well the local government workers is cat and mouse.”
Fayose, therefore, described the promises made by Fayemi to the teachers as after thought.
Bamidele meets Ekiti NULGE members, promises council autonomy
Labour Party candidate in the June 21 governorship election in Ekiti State, Mr Michael Opeyemi Bamidele, has reassured members of National Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE), in the state that he would ensure “full autonomy” of the third tier of government if elected into office.
Bamidele gave the assurance while speaking at an interactive meeting with the leadership of the Ekiti State chapter of NULGE in Ado Ekiti, on Thursday.
The Labour Party candidate also told the NULGE chiefs at the meeting that financial and administrative autonomy of all the councils in Ekiti State would be his priority.
He said at the meeting attended by NULGE executive, from the 16 local government areas in the state that his intention was to take a cue from the dictates of the 1999 Constitution on local government.
He solicited the support of the council workers for his governorship bid
Bamidele also promised to amend the Ekiti State House of Assembly law which pegged tenure of elected local government leadership at two years if elected, describing the law as undemocratic and counter-productive.
He also went further to say that one of the steps to ensure this is through a pact he recently signed with Ekiti people, where he agreed to conduct council elections within six months of assuming office.
Among other promises he made to the union members included; prompt payment of leave bonuses, training allowances, clearing of arrears in salary and other allowances.
Meanwhile, the forum presented opportunity for some local government workers to ask the candidate critical questions bordering on their welfare.
Ekiti State NULGE President, Mr. Bunmi Ajimoko, who presided over the meeting, in his speech, cautioned all the candidates in the election not to shut their doors against council workers when elected.
Mobil indigenous contractors demand for equity
forum of Mobil core community contractors has called on the management of ExxonMobil to as a matter of urgency address the issue of equity in the award of contract to its contractors.
The indigenous contractors from Ibeno, Eket, Onna and Esit Eket local government areas of Akwa Ibom State, under the aegis of core community contractors Forum, said Mobil Producing Nigeria unlimited do not award contracts to its member as stipulated by memorandum of understanding (MOU) and the Nigeria local content Act.
In an interview with newsmen in his office in Ibeno on Tuesday, the joint chairman of the body, chief Friday Ebong, warned that unless the companies address the injustices meted out to his members, the group may be forced to go on a peaceful protest because they are stakeholders of the company.
He decried a situation where menial jobs are giving to indigenous contractors and plummy ones giving to foreigners as an abuse of equity and a slap on the sensibility of indigenous contractors.
Chief Ebong, who is the Obong Mkparawa 1 of Ibeno said that on many occasions he has restrained the youth of the core communities from pretesting against the lopsided issuance of contracts to indigenous contractors.
APC tackles Labour Party over violence in communities
The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ekiti State, has declared that it may have to resort to self-help to defend its members in the state from the alleged incessant attacks by Labour Party members.
But Mr Opeyemi Bamidele, the Labour Party governorship candidate, had said in Okemesi Ekiti that the APC was only persecuting him for daring to contest against Governor Fayemi in the election.
Interim chairman of the APC in the state, Chief Jide Awe, who addressed newsmen in Ado Ekiti, on Thursday, claimed that “in the last 72 hours, Labour Party thugs have attacked our members in Ipole Iloro , Aramoko, Okemesi, Ikogosi  and Erinjiyan Ekiti,” all in Ekiti West Local Government Area and added that the party had earlier attacked an APC chieftain in Egbe community in Gbonyin Local Government Area of the state.
Awe said: “None of the violence in all these towns can be traced to the doorstep of Mr Ayodele Fayose. It has been the LP members that have been causing the violence and the party is so minute that if we are pushed to the wall, my members may be forced to resort to self-help.
“And if Ekiti is made to reach a stage where it cannot be a favourable operation ground for campaign, this will be very unfortunate . It won’t be in the interest of anybody.”
He alleged that branded APC vehicles, posters and billboards were allegedly destroyed by the Labour Party thugs, saying that the party was compiling the reports from the various affected communities for proper action with the relevant security agencies.
PDP tackles Tinubu over alleged violent threats on Ekiti, Osun gov polls  •They are frightened because of plots to rig —APC
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Osun State chapter, on Thursday, in Osogbo, took on the national leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and former governor of Lagos State, Senator Bola Tinubu, over his reported statement that anybody that  attempts to rig the forthcoming governorship polls in Ekiti and Osun States, would be roasted.
Tinubu, had on Wednesday, at the 11th convocation ceremony of the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH), Ogbomosho, cautioned the PDP against perpetrating rigging in the elections, contending that: “we are prepared not to go to court, but to drive you out. We would not take it anymore. If you mess up in Ekiti and Osun, you will see our reactions”.
But, the chairman of the PDP, in Osun State, Alhaji Ganiyu Olaoluwa, in a statement forwarded to journalists on Thursday, described Tinubu’s statement as undemocratic and a ranting of a drowning national leader of the APC.
He, therefore, tasked security agencies to closely monitor politicians, who were making inciting and inflammatory statements, capable of threatening the peace of the country, most especially, ahead of the governorship elections in Ekiti and Osun states.
Olaoluwa, who argued that the APC-led government, headed by Governor Rauf Aregbesola, had lost touch with the masses, said the party was jittery of the imminent defeat that awaits it on August 9, 2014.
But, in an email message to our correspondent, the Director of Publicity, Research and Strategy of the APC in Osun State, Mr Kunle Oyatomi, said the “PDP intends to rig and it is now confronted with a people who are determined not to allow them to rig”.
According to him, “Our leader, Senator Tinubu, has only told them not to rig. And that those who rig in Yorubaland get roasted. If the PDP does not intend to rig, that should not frighten them. What he said is a call to robust defence of democracy and freedom”.
However, the Osun PDP chairman said his party does not need to rig the poll, stressing that “we will convincingly win the governorship election slated for August 9. We would capitalise on the goodwill we enjoys from the people of Osun State to win in a free and fair election.