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Tag: Ayodele Fayose

  • Wike celebrates Fayose at 64, Says “He is a dependable ally”

    Wike celebrates Fayose at 64, Says “He is a dependable ally”

    By Joyce Remi-Babayeju

    Minister of Federal Capital Territory FCT, Barr. Nyesom Wike has celebrated the former governor of Ekiti State Ayo Fayose, describing him as a dependable ally, whose yes is yes, and no is no.”

    In a statement on Friday, by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communications and New Media, Lere Olayinka, the FCT Minister, in his goodwill message to Fayose on his 64th birthday, described him as “a valuable friend and brother”, who will never pretend about where he stands on issues.

    The statement read, “I rejoice with my friend and brother, former Governor of Ekiti State, Peter Ayodele Fayose, Osokomole, on his attainment of 64 years on earth today, November 15, 2024.”

    “The attainment of this age is no doubt a confirmation of the grace the Almighty God has bestowed on him and a challenge for more service to our country, Nigeria.”

    “No doubt, at 64, Fayose has remained a reference point in politics in Nigeria. His footprints on the sands of Ekiti State will forever remain indelible.”

    “He is such a valuable friend and brother, who will never pretend about where he stands on issues.”

    “It is my prayer that God will continue to make the days of our own Osokomole on earth fruitful, with immeasurable blessings and robust heath.”

  • 2023 Polls: I Worked Against PDP, Supported Tinubu 100% — Fayose

    2023 Polls: I Worked Against PDP, Supported Tinubu 100% — Fayose

    Former Governor of Ekiti State, Ayodele Fayose, has disclosed that he worked against his party’s presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, in the February 25, 2023 election.

    Fayose, who is a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), revealed that he worked against Atiku “100%” because the “PDP has not been fair to me”.

    The PDP stalwart said he worked for the victory of the flag bearer of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu, in Ekiti in the last general elections.

    “I never worked for PDP during the last election. I cannot work for two people at the same time,” he said on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics programme.

    “The reality is that I worked for Asiwaju (Tinubu). He is a respectable person from the South-West. It is the time of the South.”

    ‘PDP Suspended My Son And I’
    Fayose, who met the President at Aso Villa in Abuja, on Thursday, July 6, 2023, expressed his grievances with the PDP, saying that the party suspended him and his son, Oluwajomiloju, despite that he has “suffered tremendously for PDP”.

    “The same PDP, because I said it was the turn of the South, removed my son, suspended my son, expelled my son, suspended me. For a man that has suffered tremendously for PDP?” he queried.

    The ex-governor, and member of an aggrieved group within the PDP known as the G5 or the Integrity Group, said his party played games with Nigerians by giving its presidential ticket to Atiku, an ex-Vice President who is from Adamawa State in North-East Nigeria.

    Fayose argued that with the expiration of the two-term tenure of ex-President Muhammadu Buhari, who is also from the North, a Southern Nigerian should be the next President of the country.

    Threat
    He vowed to sue the PDP if the party takes disciplinary actions against him for supporting Tinubu in the last elections.

    “If PDP take action against me, I will take them to court,” the ex-governor stated. “If anybody suppresses my voice, I will say things more than this.”

    Fayose further stated that his recent visit to the President was not connected to his court case with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). “Tinubu has no power to stop EFCC trial,” he said of the case which has last five years.

    The PDP stalwart said he won’t accept any ministerial position from the President. He urged Tinubu to apportion 40 percent of his cabinet members to people above 60 years of age and 70 years of age, 30 percent to women and 30 per cent to young people.

    In the 2023 presidential election, Tinubu, a former governor of Lagos State trounced Atiku in Fayose’s Ekiti State. Tinubu won in all 16 Local Government Areas the state.

    Tinubu also won in 11 other states out of Nigeria’s 36 states. He scored a total of 8,794,726 votes almost two million votes more than Atiku, who polled 6,984,520 votes, and the candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi, who, secured 6,101,533 votes.

  • Alleged Money Laundering: Absence Of Judge Stalls Fayose’s Trial

    Alleged Money Laundering: Absence Of Judge Stalls Fayose’s Trial

    The trial of a former Governor of Ekiti State, Ayodele Fayose, was on Monday stalled before a Federal High Court Lagos.

    This is because the court did not seat as the trial judge, Justice Chukwujekwu Aneke was said to be attending a conference.

    The court registrar hinted that a new date would now be agreed on by the parties in due course.

    Channels Television observed that most other courts did not sit and the same explanation was given that the judges were away for a conference.

    Fayose is being prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for an alleged N6.9 billion fraud and money laundering.

    He was first arraigned on Oct. 22. 2018, before Justice Mojisola Olatotegun, alongside his company, Spotless Investment Ltd, on 11 counts bordering on fraud and money laundering offences.

    He had pleaded not guilty to the charge and was granted bail on Oct. 24, 2018, in the sum of N50 million with sureties in like sum.

    The defendant, was, however, subsequently, re-arraigned before Justice Chukwujekwu Aneke, on July 2, 2019, after the case was withdrawn from Justice Olatoregun, following a petition by the EFCC against the judge.

    He had also pleaded not guilty to the charges and was allowed to continue on the earlier bail granted, while the case was adjourned for trial.

    The commission has since opened its case before Justice Aneke and is still leading witnesses in evidence.

    According to the charge, on June 17, 2014, Fayose and one Abiodun Agbele were said to have taken possession of the sum of N1.2 billion, for purposes of funding his gubernatorial election campaign in Ekiti, which sum they reasonably ought to have known formed part of crime proceeds.

    Fayose was alleged to have received a cash payment of the sum of five million dollars, (about N1.8 billion) from the then Minister of State for Defence, Sen. Musiliu Obanikoro, without going through any financial institution.

    He was also alleged to have retained the sum of N300 million in his account and took control of the aggregate sums of about N622 million which sum he reasonably ought to have known formed part of crime proceeds.

    Fayose was alleged to have procured De Privateer Ltd and Still Earth Ltd, to retain the aggregate sums of N851 million which they reasonably ought to have known formed part of crime proceeds.

    Besides, the defendant was alleged to have used the aggregate sums of about N1.6 billion to acquire properties in Lagos and Abuja, which sums he reasonably ought to have known formed part of crime proceeds.

    He was also alleged to have used the sum of N200 million, to acquire a property in Abuja, in the name of his elder sister Moji Oladeji, which sum he ought to know also forms crime proceeds.

    The offences contravene the provisions of sections 15(1), 15 (2), 15 (3), 16(2)(b), 16 (d), and 18 (c) of the Money Laundering Prohibition Act 2011.

    The defendant however pleaded not guilty to the charge.

  • 2023: Presidency Must Return To Southern Nigeria, Fayose Insists

    2023: Presidency Must Return To Southern Nigeria, Fayose Insists

    A former governor of Ekiti State Ayodele Fayose has insisted that the southern part of Nigeria must produce the country’s president in 2023.

    Fayose, a two-time governor under the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), said this in a series of tweets on his official handle on Wednesday, pinning his argument on the party’s constitution.

    “The PDP Constitution provides for a rotational Presidency. Section 3(c) provides that the Party shall pursue its aims & objectives by “adhering to the policy of the rotation & zoning of Party & Public elective offices in pursuance of the principle of equity, justice, and fairness’,” Fayose maintained.

    “The current President of Nigeria is a 2-term Northern Presidency, thus implying that it MUST be a Southern Presidency in 2023 or NOTHING. Awa ‘South’ lo kan’. Nigerians should await details soon.”

    The PDP Constitution provides for a rotational Presidency. Section 3(c) provides that the Party shall pursue its aims & objectives by “adhering to the policy of the rotation & zoning of Party & Public elective offices in pursuance of the principle of equity,justice and fairness.”

    — Peter Ayodele Fayose (@GovAyoFayose) June 29, 2022

    The current President of Nigeria is a 2-term Northern Presidency, thus implying that it MUST be a Southern Presidency in 2023 or NOTHING. Awa ‘South’ lo kan’. Nigerians should await details soon.

    — Peter Ayodele Fayose (@GovAyoFayose) June 29, 2022

    Fayose, who contested the PDP presidential primary, lost out to former Vice President Atiku Abukar in the exercise held earlier this month.

    He has been one of the strong advocates for a power shift to southern Nigeria despite the party Atiku from the northern region, as the party’s flagbearer.

    Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State, who also lost in the exercise, had campaigned, among others, based on a power shift to the south.

    The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), however, is fielding a southerner – Bola Tinubu – as its presidential candidate to honour the power-sharing deal called zoning between the north and south.

  • Kwankwaso Meets Wike In Port Harcourt

    Kwankwaso Meets Wike In Port Harcourt

    Presidential candidate of the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP), Rabiu Kwankwaso on Friday paid a visit to Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike in Port Harcourt.

    While the meeting’s purpose is yet unclear, it may not be unconnected to the 2023 general elections.

    Also present at the meeting was former Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose.

    Other political players such as the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, have visited Mr Wike in the past few days.

    Mr Wike on Thursday received Senate Minority Leader, Philip Aduda and other PDP politicians, also in Port Harcourt.

    Others who have visited Mr Wike recently include Governor Dave Umahi of Ebonyi State, Governor Bala Mohammed of Bauchi State, former Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Godsday Orubebe, and former Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Mohammed Adoki.

  • ‘I see danger’ — Fayose writes Tinubu An Open Letter

    ‘I see danger’ — Fayose writes Tinubu An Open Letter

    Ayo Fayose, former governor of Ekiti, has written an open letter to Bola Tinubu, former Lagos governor, over the latter’s recent remarks in Ogun state.

    While addressing delegates in Abeokuta, the Ogun capital, Tinubu, a presidential hopeful and member of the All Progressives Congress (APC) had said without him, Buhari would not have won the presidential election in 2015.

    The comment sparked varied reactions from Nigerians on the circumstances surrounding the 2015 elections.

    The presidency, in a reaction on Monday, also said millions of people — not one person — supported Buhari to win the election.

    In the letter on Monday, Fayose said his views are from the perspective of a Yoruba man and not as a politician, adding that “I equally wish to state that I am not an APC man and will never be”.

    “I am writing based on my observed views and the attached possible dangers about your good-self against tomorrow,” the letter reads.

    “I equally read the reactions of your political allies both in the North and in the South. The reactions gave me great cause of concern for you and your life. Again, I see danger!

    “As a knowledgeable student of history whom you are; our great late sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo and the celebrated winner of the June 12, 1993 general election; Alhaji Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola, were led to the Golgotha by self acclaimed “champions of democracy.” I am sure the same people may advise you to ignore my advice.

    “Going by the handwritings that are now clearly on the wall, if I may comment sir, I see you as one that may be swimming against the political tide of the cabal in your party. They are equally preparing for your actions and reactions and are fully set to contain same as they did to both Awolowo and Abiola.

    “Unfortunately, your kingdom has been badly balkanized if what happened in Abeokuta is anything to go by.”

    Fayose, therefore, advised Tinubu to consider a verse in the Bible — “Proverbs 22:3” — which states: “Sensible people will see trouble coming and avoid it but unthinking people will work into it.”

    “Again, Asiwaju, for reasons of not being misrepresented, I will like to stop here and allow you to take your decisions, good or bad as a wise full-grown adult whom you are,” he added.

  • EFCC Re-Arraigns Fayose On 11 Amended Charges

    EFCC Re-Arraigns Fayose On 11 Amended Charges

    The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), on Thursday re-arraigned the former Governor of Ekiti State Ayodele Fayose, and his company, Spotless Limited before a Federal High Court sitting in Lagos.

    Fayose and his company were re-arraigned before Justice Chukwujekwu Aneke on 11 charges bordering money laundering and non-declaration of his assets.

    In the amended charge, Fayose and one Mr Abiodun Agbele, who is also standing trial on alleged money laundering offences before another division of the court, were alleged to have on June 17, 2014, taken possession of N1.219 billion, to fund Fayose’s 2014 gubernatorial campaign in Ekiti State.

    They were accused of committing criminal breach of trust, theft, and stealing public funds.

    Mrs Joanne Tolulope, the 11th witness continued her testimony on Thursday. She was cross-examined by Fayose’s counsel, Ola Olanipekun. She affirmed that her company, Still Earth Limited only dealt with Mr Abiodun Agbele, the associate of former Ekiti State Governor Ayodele Fayose who is standing trial alongside his company, Spotless Investment Ltd.

    When asked if she was involved in the preparation of the deed of assignment in respect of the properties leading to the charge, she answered and said that her company engaged the service of an external lawyer, Barrister Kolawole.

    The witness when asked if all parties in the transaction leading to the trial were fictitious, she said she can only vouch for her company, Still Earth Limited, which deals with Mr Abiodun Agbele.

    After the cross-examination, EFCC counsel Rotimi Jacobs informed the court that the new amended charge has been filed and he sought the court’s permission to re-arraign Fayose.

    Subsequently, Fayose and his company were re-arraigned on 11 charges bordering on Money and Laundering and non-assets declaration.

    As the trial will continue on Friday, December 3 before Justice Aneke, the EFCC is expected to call its 12th witness to testify against him.

  • PDP remains our only hope and that of Nigerians at large – Fayose

    PDP remains our only hope and that of Nigerians at large – Fayose

    Former Ekiti state governor, Ayo Fayose, is of the opinion that PDP remains the hope of Nigerians. The governor shared his opinion on his Twitter handle. His tweet reads;

    ”PDP remains our only hope and that of Nigerians at large. It must therefore be jealously preserved by our priceless sacrifice. This is our bond.”

    "PDP remains our only hope and that of Nigerians at large" - Fayose
  • 2023: I have nothing to do with Tinubu’s presidential ambition, says Fayose

    2023: I have nothing to do with Tinubu’s presidential ambition, says Fayose

     

    Former Governor of Ekiti State, Ayodele Fayose, on Wednesday, said he has no interest in the rumoured presidential ambition of All Progressives Congress chieftain, Bola Tinubu, in 2023.

    Fayose, who stated this in Liveinterview expressed confidence that his party, the Peoples Democratic Party, would produce Nigeria’s president in the 2023 general elections.

    He said “Bola Tinubu is a leader in the West. It is a statement of fact” but noted that he has not met or spoken with the former Lagos State governor in years.

    Fayose said, “I have never met former governor Ahmed Bola Tinubu in the last three years and I have never spoken with him on the phone once. So, I don’t how they are tying the relationship politically.

    “To the best of my knowledge, I am not a member of APC. I have no influence on how he will become if he wants to become. I have no interest; the only interest I have is that a PDP president must be put in place.”

  • #EndSARS: Life doesn’t matter to a clueless leader –Fayose

    #EndSARS: Life doesn’t matter to a clueless leader –Fayose

    A former governor of Ekiti State, Ayodele Fayose, has condemned the attack on #EndSARS protesters at Lekki toll gate, Lagos State.

    Fayose made the displeasure known in a series of tweets on Wednesday.

    He also condemned the silence of the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), over the killings of #EndSARS protesters.

    He tweeted, “My heart is heavy. Like every other concerned Nigerians, I’m worried. I’m sad that soldiers were sent to shoot at our youths, who were only expressing their anger against the system.

    “I sympathize with families of the deaths and pray that God will heal the injured.

    “However, the sad reality we must face now is that the current situation in our nation is a result of allowing a clearly incompetent man to ascend to the highest office in the land. I saw all these coming and I warned Nigerians. You can’t wear a white robe on a pig.

    “Life does not matter to a clueless leader whose only fulfilment is that he is called Mr. President. He cares about no one except himself. That’s why up till now, the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Federal Republic of Nigeria has not said a word. Sad.”