The All Progressives Congress in Ekiti State has slammed the Peoples Democratic Party for criticizing President Muhammadu Buhari for hosting the state Chairman, Olajide Awe, along his counterparts from other states in the Aso Rock.
It said PDP’s charge that Buhari should not have allowed Awe into the seat of power over alleged murder allegation hanging on him after vowing to prosecute murder cases was hypocrisy carried too far.
It explained that Nigerians knew the difference between murder charge and contrived cases of alleged murder to hound opponents out of political field.
It would be recalled that shortly after President Buhari made a public declaration to probe unresolved murder cases, Governor Ayodele Fayose was jolted into official reaction, urging the President not to play politics with murder investigations.
Following up, PDP’s Publicity Secretary in Ekiti State, Adebayo Jackson, criticised Buhari for hosting Awe in the Aso Rock along other APC state chairmen, saying he should not have been allowed to meet the President until after his trial.
But the APC Publicity Secretary in Ekiti State, Taiwo Olatubosun, reacted in a statement, saying the PDP was being hypocritical in Awe’s matter.
Explaining that Fayose and the PDP contrived the Erijiyan crisis that led to the death of a PDP member in a daylight street brawl between political rivals, Olatubosun said Awe could not be blamed for the death that happened when he was not in the town.
Olatubosun said: “All Nigerians knew when Fayose unleashed his thugs on Ekiti people across the state with active support of the security agencies aided by President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration which believed that Fayose represented the suppressing machine needed to win Ekiti State.
“Awe’s alleged murder charge was the making of Fayose to put him out of circulation. This politically-motivated case was investigated and the accused persons were discharged by a court until Fayose assumed office and reopen the case for political reasons using the media to unjustly convict the innocent man.
“We are aware that PDP is planning a press conference to allege that Awe killed
Madam Jeje and Ayo in Erinjiyan just to blackmail President Buhari for not investigating Awe.”
Olatubosun expressed indignation over this dishonest armtwisting in the face of many alleged unresolved criminal cases hanging on the neck of the governor.
He said it was hypocritical for Fayose with several alleged criminal cases to be allowed to contest election while criticising Buhari for allowing innocent Awe whose alleged crime was contrived to punish him.
Listing other alleged criminal cases still hanging on the governor’s neck, Olatubosun said:
“Fayose was still standing trial for alleged corruption in N1.3 billion poultry fraud and not the least, is the Ekiti election fraud known as Ekiti gate audio tape that gave details of how democracy was subverted through Fayose conniving with other PDP leaders in the brazen crime while earlier, in a show of impunity, the governor had invaded the court with thugs, beating up a judge and tearing court records in the Chief Judge’s office.”
Olatubosun said these and many others are the crimes for which Fayose must prepare to defend himself instead of a devious scheme to blackmail the President in his bid to sanitise the nation’s political space.