Rerun: Yar’Adua, Jonathan arrive in Ekiti for electioneering
By Olayinka Oyebode and Akin Oyedele
Published: Friday, 3 Apr 2009
The Vice President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, will arrive in Ekiti State, on Friday, to lead the campaign train of the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Mr. Segun Oni, to Irepodun/Ifelodun Local Government Area.

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L-R: Alhaji Umaru Musa Yar’Adu

A statement by the state PDP Director of Communication and Strategy, Mr. Jackson Adebayo, on Thursday, said that President Umaru Yar’Adua, will also arrive on Saturday for the two-day campaign.

He said that Senate President, Mr. David Mark and Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr. Dimeji Bankole, will lead members of the National Assembly from the South-West on the train.

The PDP spokesman urged the people of the state to come out en masse to welcome the visitors.

A former Military Governor of the Old Western State, Maj.-Gen. Adeyinka Adebayo (rtd), had on Tuesday advised Yar’Adua and Jonathan against coming to Ekiti to campaign for Oni.

The Ekiti AC, however, said it was not moved by the involvement of the President and vice-president in the electioneering, insisting that they were coming to market a “bad product.”

An electronic mail by the Director of Communication of the Kayode Fayemi Campaign Organisation, Mr. Yemi Adaramodu, said that some of the PDP stalwarts being expected in the state were not known to have won any political contest in their own constituencies.

Adaramodu alleged that part of the decoy lined up by the PDP for the campaign was to arrange with some of their members who would impersonate defectors from the AC when the train berthed at Igede-Ekiti to portray the AC as popular.

“We advise our party members not to move near wherever they want to use for their dance of shame in the name of campaigning for Segun Oni, so that they don’t have any excuse to implicate them.”

Also, a former governor of the state, Chief Niyi Adebayo, has attributed the alleged desperation of the leaders of the PDP to the realisation that they had lost ground.

Speaking in an interview with journalists at his Iyin-Ekiti country home on Thursday, Adebayo also said that he was not afraid of alleged plan to arrest him on the eve of the election.

The AC chieftain said that the violence that had attended the campaign rallies of the two leading candidates was disturbing.

He said PDP had been identified as the perpetrators of violence, as a dress rehearsal for the party’s alleged plans to rig the election.

Meanwhile, former Ekiti State governor, Mr, Ayodele Fayose, on Thursday, alleged plot by the PDP and its candidate in the rerun governorship election, Mr. Segun Oni, to assassinate him, over his refusal to support the party in the election scheduled to hold on April 25.

Fayose told journalists at a news conference in Lagos that he had been informed of the plot to kill him, adding that he would want the police to investigate the matter.

He urged the police not to treat the allegation with levity, because doing so might bring about greater consequence in the rerun election.

He also urged President Umaru Yar’Adua to wade into the Ekiti matter with a view to averting violence.

Oni, in a swift reaction, however, described the former governor as a frustrated person.

The Chairman, media and publicity committee of the Oni Campaign outfit, Prince Dayo Adeyeye, said Fayose was being haunted by his past.

Fayose said he had no basis to raise any false alarm over plot to kill him, adding that the plot was hatched at a meeting held somewhere in Ekiti State, which one of his admirers was privy to.

He added that a particular political thug in Osogbo, Osun State had been contacted to terminate his life.

Fayose alleged that the plan to eliminate him was hatched because of his popularity in the state, which was seen as a possible impediment to the PDP’s plan to rig the election.

The former governor, who spotted a yellow T-Shirt labelled “Fayose for Fayemi”, said his resolve to support Fayemi was because of the love he had for Ekiti people.

Fayose said, “I have no basis to make false alarm. I only step aside from the PDP, the people of Ekiti want a person of integrity to run the affairs of the state, and I still have interest in who becomes the governor of the state.

“I am not working against PDP; but I am working for Fayemi, I am not a member of AC, and I will never be a member. Oni has said I have no electoral value but time will tell.”

Meanwhile, Adeyeye in a statement made available to our correspondent, described Fayose as a frustrated person who needed urgent medical attention.

He described the allegation as by the former governor, as “hallucination of a depressed mind.”

He said, “Fayose, who had already applied to the court for leave to travel abroad for medical attention cannot but be suffering from hallucination, having been associated with all sorts of criminalities for which he is already standing trial.

“Who can be after Fayose other than the spirits of those that were murdered, harassed and intimidated during his three and half years of ignoble rule in Ekiti?”
http://www.punchng.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art200904031303254

Kobojunkie:

What people still stand strong? Are you referring to this same people that could potentially re-elect these same set of goons in to office come 2011?