Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State has cried out over what he said was the the huge sums of cash flooding the state ahead of the All Progressives Congress (APC) primaries scheduled for Saturday, claiming that the monetisation of the primaries was capable of compromising the July 14 governorship election in the state.  Governor Fayose alleged while speaking with newsmen in Ado Ekiti, on Wednesday that there was movement of cash into the state by the aspirants of the APC, claiming that the money was to compromise the delegates.
Fayose expressed concerned about the development he said he saw as “the desperation of some of the aspirants” and contended that the governorship election might end up being compromised by the use of cash by the aspirants.
According to him, the way the exercise has been compromised in the build up to the primary showed that the APC led Federal Government is merely paying lip service to the war against corruption.
He said: âOne wonders how money has flooded Ekiti in the last 24 hours ahead of the APC party primary. One begins to wonder that on the build up to that election, an aspirant is giving delegate N250,000 and they will still give another N1million per delegate on the day of primary election.
âThe whole of this weekend, they are busy spending money as if we were in general election. And if truly we are fighting corruption, the way money is being moved around Ekiti, this can compromise this governorship election, even the 2019 election.
âINEC and other agencies must look into this matter going forward, because this is not general election. At the end of the day, they will come and say that they are fighting corruption. This is clearly money politics. That is, the conscience of the people is being compromised.
âEvery beer parlour in the state, they now celebrate the money of APC. Â The electorates must not mortgage their future. They must not have their future cut short by this money politics and this is certainly not in the interest of democracy.
âAnd coming from acclaimed defenders of democracy and one fighting corruption, this is high level desperation. If they get to power they will recoup the money from the government coffers. They will rape the state,â he said.
But the APC, in reaction described the alarm raised by the governor as a mark of “frustration” and that the governor was “jittery.”
APC which reacted through the spokesperson of the party, Chief Taiwo Olatunbosun, said “Fayose is frustrated and jittery, let him mind his business.”
Olatunbosun said: “He is not a member of our party so I don’t know where he is picking his information from. APC is not like the PDP that has stolen our commonwealth and plunged the nation into a state of coma.
“Yes, we will mobilise our members for the primary but the allegation that we are sharing that kind of money by the governor is laughable. We will do everything that is right and within the constitution to send him out of the government house, so let him start parking.
“No amount of blackmail will stop or derail us. The Ekiti people are set for the APC and we will make sure we produce a candidate that is acceptable to the people.”
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