Why I didn’t pick Aluko as my CoS, by Fayose

Governor Ayo Fayose has said the allegation by the former Ekiti State Secretary of the‎ Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Tope Aluko, that the military was used to influence the outcome of the June 21, 2014 governorship election in the state was another ploy in the fruitless efforts by the All Progressives Congress (APC) to rubbish the mandate freely given him by the people of the state.

He said Aluko was beclouded by his desperation to seek revenge against Fayose because of his refusal to make him his Chief of Staff. He (Aluko) is not mindful of committing the criminal offence of perjury, the statement added.

The governor described as “shameful” that the All Progressives Congress (APC) has refused to accept a scandalous electoral defeat they suffered 19 months ago, asking whether it was also soldiers that rigged the 2015 presidential, senatorial, House of Representatives and State House of Assembly elections that the party lost.

In a statement by the governor’s Chief Press Secretary, Idowu Adelusi, the governor ‎ said the election that ushered him to office was conducted about 20 months ago and applauded by the election observers and the international communities, wondered when the opposition would stop licking their wounds.

Fayose said “ all these steps are being taken by the APC to silence me because of my criticism of obnoxious policies of Buhari administration, but I cannot be silenced. If I Ayo Fayose remains the last man standing to put Buhari administration on its toes, I will not look back. Strong opposition is ingredient of ‎virile democracy. I don’t have skeleton in my cupboard. If the APC has any concrete evidence against me, it should give it to the EFCC.”

Fayose added that he felt sorry for Aluko because he had allowed those who rented him to do the very dirty job to destroy him totally therefore bringing shame upon himself and his family.

The Governor continued: “ It is very obvious that those who rented him will keep him at alms lenght believing that what he did to me, he will do same to them.”

He said: “For Aluko to be taken seriously, he must first have to report himself to the police to be tried for perjury and committed to prison for three years since what he is now saying is different from what he said under oath at the Election Tribunal where he was the only witness called by the PDP and Governor Fayose.

“If after giving evidence under oath at the tribunal that the Election was free, fair and credible and that security agents, including soldiers performed their duties creditably, saying something else more than one year after is not fair.

“It is also a demonstration of the fact that given the right offer tomorrow, the same Aluko can also address the press tomorrow to deny all he said today. He can even deny his own existence since he can deny what he said under oath just because he was not made Chief of Staff.

“We know him to be an unstable mind and that was why our party expelled him and others last year. The power of the people is greater than the power of those in authority. There is no way anybody will take through the back door what the people openly denied them through the ballot,” he said.

“From Aluko’s rant‎ing, one could see that he wants to poison our waters because he did not get the position he expected in our administration. He complained that he was not made the Chief of Staff, how could somebody with great lust for money and insatiable drive to jump from one camp to the other be trusted with such a sensitive post. I was advised by well-meaning Ekiti people not to trust him with sensitive positions because of his greed.

“As the state secretary of the party, he was going from one aspirant to the other to collect money, using his position.

When he was at the state-owned university, he was sacked because of certificate racketeering. Pressure was mounted on me not to appoint him otherwise he would put credibility problem on my administration. I therefore offered him another position which he rejected. He thinks he wants to rubbish me and my electoral victory but he is only putting himself and his family to shame.

“‎if he hopes to reap anything from this wild chase, he will only reap the whirlwind. The APC can never trust him with anything because they know that what he did to me, he would do to them. He was the principal witness of the PDP even up to the Supreme Court where he said under oath that the election was free and fair and now at what point was the election flawed?

“I pity the young man. He is only being used by the opposition and they will soon dump him after they are done with him. I won the election about 20 months ago and they are yet to come to term with the hurricane that hit them. First, they blamed what they called ‘photochromic’ for their defeat.

“When that did not sell, they tr‎ied a futile impeachment exercise and also they failed. They came up with a military panel, which could in no way act as an appellate court over the process stipulated by the Electoral Law.

They will probably need to pay INEC to tell Nigerians that an election it conducted, in which an incumbent governor lost in his own local government, was not credible.

“As per his claim that $37 million was given to the governor for the election, the governor got financial support from various sources as it is usual of anyone contesting election and it is not for him to begin to advertise in the media the level of support the governor received from individuals, corporate organisations or groups.

“However, if money belonging to the APC is missing and they suspect that the money was stolen by Dr Goodluck Jonathan to fund Ekiti State governorship election, they can approach the EFCC.”

'Africa's first solar bus'

A solar-powered bus described by its Ugandan makers as the first in Africa has been driven in public.

Kiira Motors' Kayoola prototype electric bus was shown off at a stadium in Uganda's capital, Kampala.

One of its two batteries can be charged by solar panels on the roof which increases the vehicle's 80km (50 mile) range.

The makers now hope to attract partners to help manufacture the bus for the mass market.

Kiira Motors' chief executive Paul Isaac Musasizi told BBC News that he had been "humbled" by the large and positive reaction to the test drive.

People have been excited by the idea that Uganda is able to produce the concept vehicle, or prototype, and Mr Musasizi said he wanted it to help the country "champion the automotive, engineering and manufacturing industries" in the region.

He also hopes that it will generate employment, predicting that by 2018, more than 7,000 people could be directly and indirectly employed in the making of the Kayoola.

But backing from international companies, which make vehicle parts, is essential for the project to take off.

The vision is that by 2039 the company will be able to manufacture all the parts and assemble the vehicle in Uganda.

The 35-seat bus is intended for urban areas rather than inter-city use because of the restrictions on how far it can travel.

If it is mass produced, each bus would cost up to $58,000 (£40,000), which Mr Musasizi says is a a competitive price.

Kiira Motors grew out of a project at Uganda's Makerere University, which is now a shareholder in the company, and it has also benefitted from government funding.

Boko Haram crisis: Amnesty condemns reinstatement of Nigeria general

The campaign group named Maj Gen Ahmadu Mohammed and eight other officers in a report last year, accusing the military of killing more than 8,000 detainees.

"It is unthinkable" to recall the officer, who was sacked in 2014, before an inquiry had even begun, it said.

The military is investigating the allegations, a spokesman told the BBC.

"These are just allegations - until proven, no-one should be punished unnecessarily," military spokesman General Rabe Abubakar said, confirming that Gen Mohammed had been reinstated.

Amnesty says Gen Mohammed was "in command of operations when the military executed more than 640 detainees following a Boko Haram attack on the detention centre in Giwa barracks on 14 March 2014".

He was sacked for unrelated reasons before recently being reinstated.

"Major General Mohammed must be investigated for participating in, sanctioning or failing to prevent the deaths of hundreds of people," Amnesty's secretary general Salil Shetty said in a statement.

But Gen Abubakar said the allegations were being investigated.

The London-based group said since March 2011, more than 8,000 young men and boys have been either shot, starved, suffocated or tortured to death in military custody and no-one has been held responsible.

President Muhammad Buhari promised to look into the issue when he came to power last year.

Boko Haram's Islamist insurgency has claimed thousands of lives and displaced more than two million people over the past six years.

In the latest incident, at least 65 people were killed and 136 injured when militants attacked the north-eastern Dalori village on Saturday night.

Iwobi is a special player England will miss, says Wenger

ROY Hodgson could have missed out by not moving to secure Alex Iwobi as a full England international, according to Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger.

The 19-year-old, born in Lagos, Nigeria, played for England at youth level before declaring his allegiance for the Super Eagles last year.

Iwobi has made two appearances for his birthland in friendlies against DR Congo and Cameroun, though will remain eligible for England until he makes a competitive appearance for Sunday Oliseh’s side.

Among the most highly-rated of Wenger’s young prospects Iwobi has made a big impression in recent weeks, starting FA Cup ties against Sunderland and Burnley.

Speaking after the 2-1 victory over the Clarets at the Emirates, in which the youngster was among his stand-out performers, Wenger made clear that he believes Iwobi would be good enough to play for England.
“He plays for Nigeria now, and he should play for England,” he said.

“I think he has shown everybody that he is a good football player again. I find him personally very interesting because his decision making is spot on and his awareness is very interesting.

“I like the timing of the decision making and the quality of his decision making. He always turns when you want him to turn and he plays the ball where you want him to play the ball. It is very interesting.”

With The Guardian

Jonathan's $37m gift to Fayose for Ekiti poll

Former President Goodluck Jonathan gave Ekiti State Governor Ayo Fayose $37 million cash for the June 21, 2014 governorship election, it was learnt yesterday.

A former Secretary of the Ekiti State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Dr. Temitope Aluko, a member of the team that prosecuted the election, said Dr. Jonathan gave Fayose $2 million in March 2014 for the primary election. He alleged that the cash was collected at the NNPC Towers in Abuja from businessman Ifeanyi Uba, who last night denied playing any role in the election or giving Fayose any money.

Aluko said the cash was taken to Fayose’s private house in Abuja from where it was moved to Ekiti.

“Immediately after the primary election, we collected another $35 million from Jonathan on June 17, 2014. The money was brought to us by the former Minister of State for Defence, Senator Musiliu Obanikoro.

“We all assembled in front of Spotless Hotel, Ado-Ekiti, owned by Fayose. Thereafter, the cash was taken to a Bureau De Change in Onitsha  where, with the support of Chris Uba, it was converted to N4.7 billion,” Aluko added.

But Fayose dismissed Aluko as a “distraction” and his story “untrue”.

The embattled PDP chief, who fell out with Fayose shortly after the election, disclosed that the governor collected about N3 billion cash from Senator Buruji Kashamu in 2013 to revive the then comatose PDP structure in Ekiti.

But Kashamu’s aide Augustine Oniyokor said: “While it is true that Senator Buruji Kashamu supported PDP candidates, including the Ekiti State governor, as a true party man, I’m not aware of the financial implications.”

Giving an insight into how the military and other security agencies were drafted into the Ekiti State election, Aluko said Fayose insisted that the only way the PDP could win was to use the military.

Said he: “The former President agreed with Fayose and summoned a security meeting at the Presidential Villa for the purpose of the election.

“Those at the meeting were the former Chief of Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshall Alex Badeh, then Chief of Army Staff Lt.-Gen. Kenneth Minimmah and former PDP National Chairman Adamu Mu’azu.

“Others included Fayose, Senator Iyiola Omisore, then Minister of Police Affairs Jelili Adesiyan and Obanikoro.

“At that meeting, the former President made it clear to the ex-Chief of Defence Staff that Fayose would stand for him (as Commander-in-Chief) in terms of providing security for the election.”

According to Aluko, the implication of Jonathan’s directive was that the military chiefs were to take orders from Fayose for the duration of the election.

On the strength of Jonathan’s directive, Aluko said Fayose then approached the former Commander of the Army Brigade in Akure, Brig.-Gen. Dikko, to take charge of the election for the PDP.

“But Gen. Dikko did not give us audience. He stated bluntly that he would not be available for such operation. So Fayose sponsored a petition against him, which led to his replacement with Brig.-Gen. Aliyu Momoh who was amenable to our plans,” Aluko stated.

Giving details of how the military and other security agencies were mobilised to win the election for the PDP, Aluko said four party stalwarts were picked from each of the 16 local government areas.

According to him, the 64 party stalwarts were carefully picked because they knew the terrain in their local governments very well.

“They gave detailed information regarding names and locations of opposition members in all the local governments, the various routes, areas of strength and weaknesses of the PDP in the 16 local government councils.

“Today, most of these 64 men are members of the Senate, House of Representatives, state House of Assembly, commissioners, local government chairmen, special advisers and the rest,” Aluko said.

“We went into the election with 1040 recognised soldiers and another batch of 400 unrecognised soldiers brought from Enugu by Chief Chris Uba.

“In addition, we raised 44 Special Strike teams, brought in Toyota Hilux buses from Abuja and Onitsha. We made special stickers for the vehicles that conveyed members of the Strike Team and black hand bands for each of them.

“Each Strike Team was made up of 10 members headed by a soldier and comprising soldiers, policemen, DSS operatives and Civil Defence Corps. They were detailed to attack and arrest prominent APC chieftains in all the local governments.

“We set up anchorage, mainly residential houses, in every local government where the Strike Team members collected their welfare and other allowances.

“To encourage the Strike Team members, we gave them orders to share money and other valuables they could lay their hands on in the houses of APC chieftains they raided.

“Then we set up detention camps, mainly in primary schools, where most of the APC chieftains were detained. Others were detained in police stations where the DPOs were friendly with us. We let them off after the election was over.

“A day to the election, we used the military to block all routes in the local governments and prevented APC chieftains, including former Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi, from coming into Ekiti.

“So we ensured that no APC chieftain was in sight on election day. We provided polling agents for the APC in most of the polling units so we had no problem getting them to sign election results in the units.

“All these local and foreign observes that described the election as free and fair only witnessed the voting on election day without knowing what transpired before the voting.”

Aluko, who was the Chief Returning Officer who signed the results for the election, said he was fully involved in the plot with Fayose from the very beginning.

According to him, he was forced to divulge the information because Fayose betrayed him and derailed from the original plan they had for the development of the state after winning the election.

Said he: “Before the election, Fayose, Femi Bamishile and I jointly swore with the Holy Bible on a sharing formula after we must have won the election. We agreed that Fayose would be governor, Bamishile his deputy and I, Chief of Staff.

“But the moment he got into office, Fayose reneged on the agreement and left me in the lurch. More worrisome is the fact that Fayose has derailed from the original Ekiti project we envisaged”.

He also spoke about the Osun election which followed and the inability of the PDP to take the same system they adopted in Ekiti, to Osun State which Governor Rauf Aregbesola resisted.

Aluko, who testified in camera before the military panel that investigated the role of the military in Ekiti and Osun states elections, said he gave the same testimony before the panel.

With The Nation