by Ranti Joseph
Former Governor of Ekiti State, Kayode Fayemi, and a member of House of Representatives, Bamidele Faparusi, have accused the Presidency of polluting the military to ensure the security arm compelled the Independent National Electoral Commission to postpone the general elections against the wishes of Nigerians.
He disclosed this on Sunday after a service marking his 50th birthday at St. Martins Catholic Church, Isan Ekiti, in his country home.
Fayemi also said more revelations would come soon on how Governor Ayodele Fayose, former Minister of State for Defence, Musiliu Obanikoro; Senator Iyiola Omisore; Minister of Police Affairs, Jelili Adesiyan, and the military allegedly rigged the June 21 governorship poll against him.
He expressed shock that a sacred institution like the military could be influenced to subvert a democratic process, saying it portended a great danger to the country.
“It was apparent that the military and presidency boxed INEC to a tight corner by merchants of retrogression to get the postponement to achieve their devilish motives. I believe what we are expected to do as democrats must be those things that would strengthen democracy. For military to be saying that it would overcome insurgency it had failed to curtail in five years. Is that not standing logic on its head? You could see that Nigerians are very unhappy.”
“To me, this is more of a civilian coup against democracy because for military to have said that it cannot provide security for INEC to prosecute the election implies that it is hands in gloves with the presidency. This is a travesty and a danger to our democracy. Military is a product of Nigeria and not the father of Nigeria and it must do everything to protect this democracy,” he said.
Fayemi, however, vowed that he and other pro-democracy activists and all lovers of democracy would resist attempts to derail the country’s constitutional democracy. He said the audio tape, released by Sahara Reporters, revealing how some Peoples Democratic Party’s chiefs allegedly rigged the governorship election in Ekiti, should not come as a surprise to anybody.
“You know that I said I accepted the outcome if truly it was the wish of the Ekiti people because I was privy to a lot of things that happened that put a question mark on the conduct of the election. But more revelations will come in few days to come,” he stressed.
Meanwhile, Bamidele described the poll shift as provocative, unjustifiable and suspicious, saying it would be difficult for the military to overcome the Boko Haram it had failed to overcome in five years, within a spate of six weeks.
“Even the war-torn Afghanistan, Pakistan and Syria conducted elections within the midst of war. So, for INEC to postpone elections just because 14 out of the 774 local governments are being ravaged by insurgents is suspicious and Nigerians must be watchful,” he argued.
Another chief of the All Progressives Congress, Segun Osinkolu, also described the poll shift as a deliberate infliction of injuries against Nigerians.
This was in a statement made available to newsmen on Sunday in Ado Ekiti. Osinkolu said, “It is unfortunate and an aberration for somebody or a group of people to hide somewhere and be working on how to continue to draw Nigeria backward when Nigerians, both at home and in the Diaspora, are more than prepared to elect their new levels.”
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