PDP alleges plan to stop result collation midway in Ekiti governorship election

• APC berates Fayose over campaign visit to schools
• I was reluctant to release Fayemi for guber poll, says Buhari

The Ekiti State Chapter of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) has alleged that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in collusion with the All Progressives Congress (APC) is planning to stop the collation of results of the July 14 governorship poll midway to allow for the tampering and manipulation of the entire process.The PDP state Publicity Secretary, Mr. Jackson Adebayo, who spoke in Ado-Ekiti yesterday, said both the INEC and the APC dubbed the sinister move ‘Edo State Code.’

The party, therefore, warned INEC not to bow to pressures from the APC to subvert the will of the people of the state in the coming election.Meanwhile, the APC in Ekiti State has criticised Governor Ayodele Fayose and the governorship candidate of the PDP, Prof. Olusola Eleka, for visiting public schools across the state to canvass votes for the party’s candidate in the July 14 governorship election.

In a statement by its Publicity Secretary, Taiwo Olatunbosun, the party said visiting public schools during school hours to disrupt academic exercise is “desperation taken too far and a condemnable and reckless politicking that has no merit in modern democratic governance.”

The APC, which berated Fayose for adopting “ambush tactics” to seek support of students and teachers, also accused him of alleged election fraud by going round schools to collect teachers’ voter’s cards for a fee after which the cards were allegedly photocopied and taken to the governor.

The party also accused some teachers on the alleged pay roll of the governor, who he said, had been going round the schools threatening and coercing innocent teachers to surrender their voter’s cards and profiling the teachers perceived as not supporting Eleka for punishment.

In another development, President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday said he was indisposed to release outgoing Minister of Solid Minerals and Steel Development, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, who recently resigned from the cabinet to contest the July 14 governorship election in Ekiti State. He said his reluctance was informed by Fayemi’s starling contributions to the APC-led administration, which he said, had led to the resuscitation and development of the solid minerals and steel sector in the country.

In his tribute at a brief valedictory session held in honour of the minister, the President noted with satisfaction the tremendous strides and elevated status achieved in the sector within the short period Fayemi served as minister. Buhari, who thereafter shook hands with Fayemi before the commencement of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting, urged him to go and “get Ekiti back for the party” (APC) and wished him luck in his governorship endeavour.

Fayemi, who expressed gratitude to Buhari for the opportunity to serve as a minister, said his decision to leave the cabinet was to help in the rescue of his people from the grip of the PDP-led administration in the state.