How Jonathan provided billions, military support to rig Fayose into office — PDP chieftain

A former secretary of the Ekiti State chapter of the governing Peoples Democratic Party, Tope Aluko, on Sunday revealed how former President Goodluck Jonathan gave the then candidate of the party, Ayo Fayose, large sums of money and military support to help rig the governorship election held in the state in 2014.

Mr. Fayose however reacted swiftly, describing the claims by the former PDP secretary as simply a new distraction from the APC in Ekiti State.

The governor said Mr. Aluko deserved no response from sane minds.

Speaking on a political programme, Politics Today, on Channels Television, Mr. Aluko narrated how the state’s chapter of the party convinced Mr. Jonathan to part with huge sum of money and direct the military and other security agencies to cooperate with the PDP and ensure the party wins the election at all cost.

“Before the primaries, we had this believe that because Jonathan was coming out for second term and because we are going to be the first election in the south-west, at a meeting, we told him (former President Goodluck Jonathan) that north-east, north-west and north-central may not be too sure for him because the Hausas are clamouring for presidency and that you now have south-east and South-south, you must manage the South-west”.

“It was on the basis of that that we told him that he must manage South-west.

“Because of his interest, even before winning the primaries, we did so many security reports to tell Mr President then that he must make sure that we manage South-west zone and it was because of that that he gave us the head of security agencies,” Mr Aluko said.

The PDP chieftain was also quoted as telling reporters in Abuja that Mr. Jonathan actually gave Mr. Fayose $37 million (N4.7 bn) which was used to rig the election.

The then incumbent governor, Kayode Fayemi, conceded defeat after the Independent National Electoral Commission, declared Mr. Fayose winner of the election.

Before the election, security operatives from the State Security Service, acting as a “Strike Team” arrested some chieftains of the APC, including then spokesperson of the party, Lai Mohammed and others.

Troops of the Nigerian Army also blocked all roads leading into the state, and the planes of some APC governors, including those of Rivers and Edo States, were denied landing rights.

Mr. Aluko on Sunday said the then Minister of State for Defence, Musiliu Obanikoro, and that of Police Affairs, Jelili Adesiyan, were made to give attention to the election because “we know that APC was everywhere in the southwest and we must naturally capture part of southwest if we want to balance what our brothers in the north were likely to bring on”.

He also revealed that there was an agreement to take out some members of the APC to ensure that they do not give adequate support to their members.

“There was a strike team, a mixture of the SSS, military, the mobile police… that is about all.

“We had a meeting at Aso Rock on security and funds. We were given security and funds.

He listed the persons at the meeting to include Mr. Jonathan; the then national chairman of the PDP, Adamu Mu’azu, Governor Fayose; and himself (Aluko).

“At the meeting President Jonathan agreed that if he needed Ekiti, he would support us to ensure that we delivered.

“At the second meeting we had Obanikoro, Jelili, Omisore… It was a combination of Osun and Ekiti people and they were discussing how we were going to move to take the South-west.

“Before the primaries, His Excellency, Ayodele Fayose, said that we can only win using the military,” he said.

Rigging claims confirmed

After the election in 2014, an Army Captain, Sagir Koli, revealed how some top officials of the federal government and the PDP used the Nigerian Army and other security agencies to rig the governorship election in Ekiti and Osun States.