Barely 72 hours after losing the governorship ticket to Prof. Kolapo Olusola, former Minister of State for Works, Prince Dayo Adeyeye, has quit the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).
Adeyeye said he was moving to another party to stop the continuity agenda of Fayose which he said was not in the best interest of Ekiti people but to keep the state in perpetual slavery.
He disclosed that since he lost the PDP primary to Fayose’s anointed candidate (Olusola), not less than five parties have approached him to come over and contest on their platform.
The former PDP national spokesman promised to reveal the platform he would use to contest for the governorship “in the next forty hours.”
Adeyeye spoke on Thursday shortly after holding a meeting with members of his campaign team, the Prince Adedayo Adeyeye Movement (PAAM) at its headquarters along Ikere Road, Ado-Ekiti.
He disclosed that he has been receiving solidarity messages from all parts of the world from people who were impressed with his performance at the PDP primary.
The Ise-Ekiti prince said Fayose’s agenda was to do a third term in office by installing Olusola in a bid to perpetually corner Ekiti’s commonwealth.
According to him, he would have won the PDP governorship primary “if not for the way Fayose intimidated delegates by forcing them to wear aso ebi to the venue.”
Adeyeye condemned Fayose for standing up at a stage during the primary to monitor how delegates voted adding that he complained on the matter to the Chairman of the Electoral Panel, Governor Ifeanyi Okowa.
Okowa, according to him, said there was nothing he could do about Fayose’s alleged intimidation of delegates inside the hall when he (Fayose) discovered that he (Adeyeye) was receiving more votes than earlier envisaged.
He revealed that Fayose allegedly coerced the delegates to same on local government basis to monitor how they voted which intimidated many of them.
Despite allegedly monitoring delegates, Adeyeye said many of the delegates voted against Olusola which enabled him (Adeyeye) to garner 771 votes.
He claimed that the governor who had boasted that he (Adeyeye) would not get up to 50 votes was shocked that he got 771 votes which allegedly made him (Fayose) to embark on an investigation of those who voted against Olusola.
Adeyeye accused Fayose of stealing Ekiti funds and using same to acquire property while majority of the people are wallowing in poverty.
The former Minister claimed that Fayose has wasted N8 billion Ekiti funds on chartered flights in the last three and half years while the flyover project was jerked up from N5 billion to N17 billion.
He said: “I am leaving the party because the party can change but your state cannot change, the party can change, your hometown cannot change.
“I can’t be part of enslavement, I can’t be part of corruption, I can’t be part of those keeping our people in poverty but spend billions of Naira on chartered flights to Abuja every year but will be riding okada at home.
“By seeking another platform, I want to tell him that he can’t be riding roughshod over Ekiti people and he cannot turn Ekiti to one-man rule.
“Our party leaders in Abuja were surprised at my performance at the primary despite the intimidation but I told them that I can change party, party may go into extinction but Ekiti will remain.
“I will not, because of party affiliation, allow Ekiti to be destroyed. That is why we will take a decision today on where we are going.
“Since Tuesday, civil servants, teachers, local government workers have become sad. Ekiti has been enveloped in mourning.
“What is paramount in my mind is to liberate Ekiti. Today, we will not reveal where we are going yet but we are no longer where we were (PDP).”
