Ayo Fayose: Tinubu's Osun Election Neutrality Differs from 'Taken' 2018 Ekiti Poll

Former Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose, has lauded President Bola Tinubu for his perceived impartiality during the August 15 Osun State governorship election, suggesting the President possessed the power to sway the outcome but chose not to. In contrast, Fayose accused the Federal Government of actively undermining his campaign during the 2018 Ekiti governorship election, alleging that security forces were deployed to restrict his movements and weaken his political efforts just before the polls.

Fayose's comments were made during an interview on TVC News, coming on the heels of remarks by the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, who stated he could have assisted the All Progressives Congress (APC) in winning the Osun election if President Tinubu had been determined to secure victory at any cost. The Osun election saw the incumbent governor, Ademola Adeleke of the Accord Party, emerge victorious with 511,067 votes, defeating the APC candidate, Bola Oyebamiji, who garnered 444,815 votes. Najeem Salaam of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) placed third with 17,180 votes. Governor Adeleke secured wins in 19 of the state’s 30 local government areas, while Oyebamiji took 11.

Fayose noted that the tight margin of victory indicated the election could have gone either way, but he commended Adeleke and advised him to be magnanimous in his triumph. He further asserted that the election's outcome demonstrated a lack of the intense federal influence he claimed was leveraged against him in 2018. “The only thing I heard towards the election was the Federal Government will take it by force. The Federal Government has come to do this. I want to say to you, if the Federal Government wants to take an election, they will take it. If the Federal Government, the ones I know of the past, if they want to take an election, there’s nothing you can do,” Fayose remarked.

Drawing a stark comparison between the Osun and 2018 Ekiti elections, Fayose maintained that the circumstances were entirely dissimilar. “Let me give you an instance. Ekiti was taken from me in 2018. By all means possible. Those features did not play out in Ede,” he stated.

According to the former governor, the Government House in Ado Ekiti was besieged by security personnel three days prior to the election, and his personal security details were completely withdrawn. He recounted, “Three days before my election, the Government House was jammed. It was jammed. You can’t talk to anyone on the phone. All my security details from whatever name you call it, I was left with an order. All of them were taken to police headquarters in Ado Ekiti and I was left on the field for three days. That is when you are talking of federal might.”

Fayose also alleged that he was prevented from exiting the Government House to participate in a campaign march and was physically assaulted when he resisted the restriction. “Beyond that, three days to the election, I wanted to do a march with over 60,000 followers. I was stopped. I was stopped by the security personnel. And I told them I am the governor of this state. An inspector told me, ‘Governor my foot.’ And they prevented me from coming out of the Government House,” he claimed. He added, “And I said I was going to come out at all costs. And to that day, they hit me with the butt of the gun and I went down. My deputy at the time had the same experience.”

Fayose concluded by revealing that the incident led to injuries that necessitated extensive medical intervention. “That was why I had the collar on my neck at the time. I wish I had that image for Nigerians to see. I had four surgeries, four procedures because of that incident alone,” he disclosed.