Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State has accused a former National Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Prince Dayo Adeyeye, of raining curses on him when he telephoned him to plead with him to accept the result of Tuesday’s governorship primary election in good faith.
Governor Fayose, who spoke on a live radio and television programme in Ado Ekiti, said he had twice called Adeyeye on the telephone to discuss the outcome of the primary election which Adeyeye lost to his deputy, Professor Kolapo Olusola.
He said: “I called Prince Adeyeye twice and on each occasion, he rained curses on me and would not even listen to what I had to say. He said I should never call him again. I am not afraid of the curses because I know I have not done anything to warrant that or for the curses to have any effect on me.
” By the constitution of our party, I have the right to support anybody for any position, just like I have the right to vote for anybody during elections. I did not hide my preference for my deputy among those seeking to succeed me as governor in our party, so, I was surprised at his reaction.
“If it was him that I supported for the position, would he have done that? The process through which our candidate emerged followed due process. I did not interfere with the process and I did not manipulate anything in favour of anybody. How many state governors have supported their deputies to aspire to be governors? I have nothing personal against anybody and Olusola has been loyal, effective and committed as my deputy and I cannot repay him in a bad manner.”
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According to the governor, he took the step to reach out to Adeyeye in line with the spirit of sportsmanship and the need to reconcile with any aggrieved person.
But in reaction, Adeyeye denied the allegation, saying it was the governor that had been cursing and threatening his supporters and delegates for voting for him in the May 7 governorship primary.
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Adeyeye said: “I did not curse nor abuse him. Our party stalwarts called to inform me that Fayose had been calling to threaten them for voting for me. So when Fayose called me, he said he wanted to follow up on the primary election, but I told him no need for follow up. I cannot be part of oppression, I cannot be part of intimidation and I cannot be part of deceit.
“I told him that all his thoughts of oppressing, dehumanizing and dominating Ekiti will not happen and that there is no meeting point between light and darkness and that he should not call my phone again.”
Adeyeye, who said everything was against him in the primary, praised his supporters for defying the odds and intimidations to deliver 771 votes for him when Fayose, who he said had been frightening people away from him, though he could not score more than 100 votes.
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