A former Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose, has said President Bola Tinubu was “magnanimous” during the August 15 Osun State governorship election, arguing that the Federal Government could have influenced the outcome if it wanted to.
Fayose also alleged that the federal government used its influence to take Ekiti State from him during the 2018 governorship election.
The former governor stated this on Tuesday while speaking on TVC News, in response to comments by the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, that he could have helped Tinubu win the Osun election for the All Progressives Congress if the President wanted victory “at all costs”.
The incumbent Osun governor and Accord candidate, Ademola Adeleke, won the election with 511,067 votes, defeating APC candidate Bola Oyebamiji, who polled 444,815 votes. African Democratic Congress candidate Najeem Salaam came third with 17,180 votes.
Adeleke won in 19 local government areas, while Oyebamiji won the remaining 11.
Speaking on the election, Fayose said its closeness meant the outcome could have gone either way, while commending Adeleke and urging him to be “magnanimous in victory”.
He said, “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 said the circumstances surrounding the Osun election were different from those he experienced during the 2018 Ekiti governorship election.
“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.
“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 a federal mind.”
Fayose further alleged that security personnel prevented him from leaving the Government House three days before the election and that he was assaulted when he attempted to come out.
“Beyond that, three days to the election, I wanted to do a match with over 60,000 followers. I was stopped. I was stopped by the security personnel.
