Jonathan and Fayose during a PDP campaign in Ekiti
Speaking during a live interview programme on ADABA 88.9 FM which was monitored by
The Nation, a former Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ekiti State, Dr. Temitope
Aluko, on Tuesday, said Governor Ayo Fayose
'threatened' former President Goodluck Jonathan in the buildup to the 2014 governorship election in the state.
He said that Fayose told Jonathan that he needed to support his governorship bid if the immediate past president wanted to win the south-west in the 2015 election, adding that Jonathan invested heavily in the election, and also alleged that Musiliu Obanikoro, former minister of state (defence) and Fayose clashed over the huge cash deployed for the June 21, 2014 governorship poll.
“Fayose was threatening former President Goodluck Jonathan that he (Fayose) must deliver so that Jonathan will win in south-west. All the PDP elders were kept out of picture on the transactions and cash and some of the cash deployed did not get to their destinations.
“The presidency gave us security and money, the money was sent from a Diamond Bank branch through an account run by Sylvan MacNamara, a company owned by Obanikoro.
“My boss said he wanted to get his own in cash and that was why arrangement was made to get his own in cash and that was why such a huge amount (N2.1 billion) was ferried by plane. Obanikoro cannot claim not to have brought the money.
“He (Fayose) chose his man, Abiodun Agbele, to keep the money in a Zenith Bank account and the money was lodged at Zenith Bank, Alagbaka Branch in Akure. The transaction was not recorded and it got to a stage when it was discovered that the money was short by N80 million.
“This caused a crisis between Fayose and Obanikoro who brought money thrice from Abuja. He (Obanikoro) brought other things apart from money which I won’t disclose now and it was from it that N1 billion was released to INEC officials to manipulate Ekiti and Osun polls.
“The cash carried on the plane was not entered into the plane manifest, the N2.1 billion was delivered to a bank at 4:30am in Ekiti. The N2.3 billion remaining from the total cash received for the election was used to buy house in Abuja and the house belongs to Fayose.
“Fayose purchased five houses in Victoria Island and Banana Island. The property in Dubai was purchased by a fellow who is known as Bisi in Ekiti but is known as Femi abroad. Questions are being asked on the N3 billion used to purchase the Dubai property but I strongly believe that we will recover our money.”
Aluko who revealed that Zenith Bank did not sponsor the governor’s election campaign, said that Zenith Bank only gave Governor Fayose N200 million after he had won the governorship election.
The PDP chieftain claimed that Fayose did not have up to N10 million in his personal account before contesting the governorship election in 2014, adding that the governor’s primary election was sponsored by Transformation Ambassadors of Nigeria (TAN) and the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).
He said Zenith Bank and other corporate organizations came with business proposals after Fayose had won the election, insisting that the governor’s claim that his campaign was sponsored by Zenith Bank was a “blatant lie.”
