State work force, has raised an alarm over an alleged plot by Governor
Ayodele Fayose to rig the July 14 governorship election in favour of
his party's, PDP candidate, Prof Kolapo Olusola Eleka.
The group, in a statement issued on Friday, said it has uncovered
voter card data capturing going on at the Peace Corps of Nigeria, PCN,
Ekiti State Command Headquarters in Oke Ila area of Ado-Ekiti and
Fajuyi mini pavilion.
The EWF maintained that the Ekiti Command of the PCN was allegedly
acting on an agreement had with Fayose to collate, according to the
Wards, Polling Units, the VIN and serial numbers on the voter cards
belonging to members of the corps.
However, denying the alleged rigging plot, the Commissioner for
Information, Mr. Lanre Ogunsuyi, described the allegation as a figment
of imagination of the group.
Ogunsuyi said: "This is a figment of their imagination, all parties
are busy mobilizing and training their supporters, party agents and
enlightening the electorate ahead of the election.
"No worker has submitted his card for any pecuniary gain and no
cloning of cards is going on as alleged. What is going on are
political parties, PCN members are free to join any political meeting
of their choice."
The EWF said the alleged action was aimed at cloning the cards and
double the vote count during the governorship election for the PDP
candidate to emerge victorious at the poll.
It claimed that Fayose had also requested for the bank details of the
PCN members that have already submitted their PVCs for the purported
data capturing with a promise to give each PCN members N10,000 a day
to the election through bank alert.
The group said, "Fayose, in his desperate moves to coerce the PCN
Ekiti State Command into his devilish political tricks as the next
month governorship election draws near had given the non-governmental
security outfit State Employment Forms and promised to enlist their
members into the State Public Service and also mobilize them as a
secret security personnel to perpetrate rigging in the next month
governorship election.
"We advise the Ekiti State Command of the Peace Corps of Nigeria to
steer clear of Fayose's political antics ahead of July 14 governorship
poll and not be party to any activity that could denigrate the good
public image of the organisation."
Meanwhile, the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, Dr. Kayode
Fayemi has warned Fayose against illegal collection of workers' voter
cards through coercion, saying "voters have inalienable right to vote
for candidate of their choice."
A statement by the Director, Media and Publicity of the Kayode Fayemi
Campaign Organisation, Wole Olujobi, urged Fayose to stop alleged
criminal and unauthorised collection of teachers and workers' PVC
numbers.
Fayemi said workers should be allowed to cast their votes for their
preferred candidates in the coming election without any fear of
intimidation by the government or its officials.
He added that compelling workers and teachers to submit their PVC
numbers as a condition for salary and running grants payment or
promotion amounted to undue intimidation and crude blackmail.
The candidate made these declarations while speaking with reporters in
his Isan-Ekiti country home in Oye Local Government, the last town he
visited in his three-week campaign tours of the 132 towns and villages
in the 16 local government areas of the state.
Fayemi promised to provide visionary leadership through his
eight-point Agenda to redirect the state to the path of growth and
development after four years of rudderless leadership of the People's
Democratic Party (PDP).
He lamented that Fayose shut down the School of Agriculture Technology
in Isan Ekiti and took away all the tractors and other modern farming
tools in the school "at a time many other states are breaking new
grounds in agriculture development and food sufficiency".
Fayemi explained that the College of Agriculture was designed to
assist in training manpower in the agriculture sector that would in
turn boost agricultural production in the state.
He also lamented that Fayose "out of ignorance" stopped the Youth in
Commercial Agricultural Development (YCAD) scheme by his
administration, saying that all the poor decisions by Fayose's
administration had drastically affected agricultural production in the
state.
Fayemi promised to re-open the College of Agriculture and revitalise
YCAD scheme, including other social security and empowerment schemes
initiated by his last administration.
He also said that the state government under his watch would build one
cottage industry in each of the local government areas to provide
employment for the teeming youth.
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