The newly-elected governor of Ekiti State, western Nigeria,
Mr. Ayodele Fayose, has explained why he was chosen ahead of the
incumbent governor, Kayode Fayemi, by the people of the state to rule
them once again.
Fayose, the candidate of the People’s
Democratic Party (PDP), was declared the winner of the June 21
governorship election in Ekiti State by the Independent National
Electoral Commission (INEC) 4am on Sunday, 22 June, 2014.
According
to the electoral body, the former governor of Ekiti from 2003 to 2006
scored 203, 090 number of votes to beat the candidate of the All
Progressives Congress (APC), Mr. Fayemi, who scored 120, 433 votes, to
the second position.
The candidate of the Labour Party, Bamidele Michael Opeyemi scored 18,135 votes to come third.
Speaking
in an interview televised by African Independent Television, AIT, few
minutes ago, Fayose stated that he was able to defeat the incumbent
governor because of his familiarity with the people of Ekiti State.
According
to the PDP candidate, if the governorship election is re-conducted 20
times, he would still win because he is loved by the people of the
state.
Fayose also stated that he might not be as educated as
incumbent Governor Fayemi and Mr. Opeyemi but he is loved by the people
of Ekiti because they know he has always identified with the people of
the grassroots.
* Ekiti State's Governor-elect, Ayo Fayose
He
said: "I may not have a Phd or Doctorate degree like most of my
opponents, but I can tell you the names of every councillor in Ekiti
State.
" I don't have have a SAN, Senior Advocate of Nigeria, but
the people of Ekiti gave me SAM, Senior Advocate of the Masses, because
they see me as a man of the people."
Commenting on the concession
speech of Governor Fayemi, Fayose says: " I commend the governor for
coming out to congratulate me few minutes after I was declared winner of
the election. And like I said earlier, I am ready to work with him and
Mr. Opeyemi for the greatness of Ekiti State."
When asked about
the crisis that happened before and during the governorship election,
the governor-elect said: "It is very sad that a lot of violence occurred
during the campaign period. Now is the time for us (I,the incumbent
governor and Mr Opeyemi) to go round the state and rally our supporters
to come together and see how we could move Ekiti forward.
" I am
ready to go with both of them across the state for us supporters to know
we need to work together for the sake of everybody in Ekiti."
Fayose
also commended INEC for conducting a free and fair governorship
election in Ekiti State, saying that the only blemish was that there
were too many people going about with huge money on the day of the
election to buy peoples' votes.
He called for a law that would sentence anybody that is caught giving out money to buy votes.
When
asked about bags of rice that had his image allegedly given out to
people of Ekiti before the election day, Fayose said: " It is in my
character to give out food to people when they come to my house. I don't
have money to give to people but I can afford to give food items like
eggs, yams and rice to people that I know are in need of such items. It
has been my habit even before I became governor of Ekiti state in 2003."
READ MORE: http://news.naij.com/68549.html
No comments:
Post a Comment