Barely 72 hours after Governor, Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State vowed on Sunday to forgive all his perceived enemies, he has taken on the Speaker of the State, Dr. Adewale Omirin, by shutting down a filling station belonging to him.
He had earlier accused Omirin, an All Progressives Congress (APC) member, of planning to scuttle his government by allowing the House embark on recess just after Fayose’s swearing-in ceremony.
Fayose said the recess would not allow the lawmakers attend to whatever requests he had including the budget proposal for 2015.
The Ekiti State Government has now sealed off four filling stations in Ado-Ekiti including T. Five Integrated Service Filling Station belonging to the Speaker. This, many in the state believe could heighten the tension in the state.
According to a statement by the Chief Press Secretary to Governor Ayodele Fayose, Mr. Idowu Adelusi, on Wednesday, the action was taken to prevent any fire accident that may result in serious fatalities.
The statement demanded that the owners of the affected petrol stations should report to the Ministry of Housing, Physical Planning and Urban Development with letters of approval.
But while reacting, Omirin said the action was done with political motives.
He said in a statement by Wole Olujobi, his Special Adviser on Media, that the governor’s action was aimed at intimidating him, but that he would not be provoked saying that he would not give in to undue political pressure to abandon his party for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for selfish and pecuniary motives.
Omirin said he fulfilled all necessary environmental laws before constructing the filling station and that he has all the necessary approvals.
He said the governor only wants to begin to victimise all those who do not share same political views as him.
He said he got the information two days after Fayose’s swearing-in that the governor intended to shut the filling station to coerce him into defecting from the APC to PDP.
He said the information was made known to him by Joseph Dele Olugbemi, another member of the House who was one of the six that defected from the APC to PDP on the day Fayose was sworn-in.
He wondered why the persecution, even when he had promised the governor of the support of the House in his bid to deliver dividends of democracy.
He said he called the governor to confirm what the honourable member told him about the plan to close his filling station.
“The governor denied any of such plan, swearing that he would not victimise any opponent,” Ominrin said.
“But he went ahead to close the fuel station arguing that it posed environmental risk.”
Omirin said he had a background of political fidelity anchored on progressive democratic practice and so would not abandon principle in pursuit of selfish agenda diametrically opposed to the ethos of his political belief.
He also noted that the present atmosphere in the state does not call for high-handedness and persecution against perceived opponents, but a collective pursuit of common goals to deliver good governance to Ekiti people. He however warned that attacks on opponents, particularly the lawmakers, will only smear the relationship between the Executive and Legislature.
