THE campaign team of the Alliance for Democracy (AD) candidate in the forthcoming governorship election in Ondo State, Chief Olusola Oke, has cried out to President Muhammadu Buhari to save him from a cabal within his government who are bent on stopping at all cost from contesting the November 26, 2016 election by resorting to underhand methods.
Addressing a Press Conference in Akure on Tuesday, the Director General of the Olusola Oke Campaign Organisation, Mr Bola Ilori, specifically, fingered the Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El Rufai, Governor of Adamawa State and Chairman of the APC Primaries Election Committee in Ondo State, Alhaji Badaru, Minister of Works, Raji Fasola, Minister of Solid Minerals, Kayode Fayemi and the Ogun State Governor, Ibikunle Amosu among others as the arrowhead of the plot to stop him from contesting the election to clear the way for their protégé, Rotimi Akeredolu of the All Progressives Congress (APC), who is also vying for the Ondo State governorship position.
His words: “This plot to stop Chief Oke from contesting the election is simply to clear the way for their protégé, Rotimi Akeredolu of the All Progressives Congress (APC), who is also vying for the Ondo State governorship position.
“The plan of these people was to prevent Olusola Oke from contesting the election because their candidate, Akeredolu, is not in contention, having lost relevance with the people, thus they have resorted to lots of underhand tactics to stop him.
“We are aware of the pedigree of President Buhari, his uprightness and his zero tolerance to dirty tricks to get advantage of people, even against his avowed antagonists, but these cabal are using the paraphernalia of the Federal Government with impunity to get unsavory advantage thus tainting his good works.
“When they noted that Olusola Oke was becoming popular by the day while their protégé lag behind in the build up to the election, they have resorted to series of underhand tactics to get him out of the race thus leaving the APC candidate as the major candidate in the election owing to the festering crisis in the People’s Democratic Party (PDP)
“First, was the attempt to award a N10 billion contract without due process to Akeredolu’s community and plough back N7 Billion out of it into his election, money which would be used to rig the election. Also, they have tried severally to compromise the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Ondo State without success given the media altercations between the APC and INEC of recent.
“Next, they have surreptitiously instigated the Legal Adviser of the Alliance for Democracy, a man who is not a candidate in the Ondo State election, to institute a suit in the Court. While we are not against this action since it is the fundamental rights of anybody to resort to the Court as an arbiter, but we have credible information from a meeting held by these cabal last week in Abuja, where they boasted that they will ensure that the Judge who will sit on the matter would be compromised to give ex-experte injunction against Chief Olusola Oke.”
This in itself, he noted, “amounts to double”speak from top officials of government officials of an government noted for its uprightness.
“When you accuse judges as being corrupt and you did indeed moved against some of them, isn’t it an irony that members of the same government are the ones boasting of compromising a Judge that would sit on the matter in Court? Such, Your Excellency, is the desperation of these cabal who are hell-bent on tainting your administration’s reputation, he regretted adding:
“But their best joker, which has been lent credence to by the popular boasts in town in the past few days by Akeredolu and his minders is the ploy to instigate the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to invite and possibly detain Chief Oke days before the election over phantom allegations. Chief Olusola Oke has been severally investigated and cleared by the anti-graft agency of any financial impropriety, but of recent, they have been putting a lot of pressure on the Commission to harass him of late with a view to make him look as if he is guilty, a development which is far from the truth.”
He wondered why this renewed onslaught against Oke now that the elections were a mere two weeks away, adding : “but we are abreast of their tricks which will continue to fail. We want to express our absolute confidence that he had nothing to fear from any anti-graft agencies having left office on a clean slate 12 years ago and having been cleared severally too.
“We also want to quickly tell his traducers that Olusola Oke was a part-time member of the Niger Delta Development Commission with no executive powers and he was never involved in any untoward activities while in office. The allegations against him are mere tissues of lies that had been found to be so by the proper authorities
“We are aware of their evil plots to perpetrate perfidy in Ondo State during the election and the people of the State are watching them keenly. We want to appeal to Mr. President to please be aware of this grand plot to harass Chief Olusola Oke, distract him from meeting the people in his campaign tours and possibly to get him disqualified through unsavory means.
The details of all the nocturnal meeting they have been holding, we are aware. It is not a new ploy and we are abreast of it. It happened few days to the APC primaries when this same Rotimi Akeredolu wrote a petition against him in which his tissues of lies were later exposed all to get him disqualified because he knows that he is but a mere babe in politics and cannot win the election.
“Now, they have started again, putting pressure on INEC, the security agents, resorting to compromising the Judiciary and lately to use the EFCC to restrain and frustrate him, but by the grace of God, they will fail.
“But Chief Oke is not deterred. If they like, let them dare the will of God, the consequences await them. Our people in Ondo state are watching them keenly and in the fullness of time, they will get their rewards in full if they don’t desist.
“We hope that the evil cabal will not take our peaceful nature for cowardice. Let it be on record that if the cabal remained hell bent on pushing ahead with their unholy agenda, the ondo state people have never been historically shy off resisting the devil in whatever form it may manifest.
“We want to commend Mr. President for his zero tolerance to perfidy and we urge him to please save our souls in Ondo State from those who say the masses shall not be allowed to live and do their things in peace.
