•Says we perfected poll rigging in an hotel 

…Alleges N5.2bn refund was diverted

From Wole Balogun, Ado Ekiti

EMBATTLED former Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Ekiti State chapter, Dr. Tope Aluko, has made another dramatic u-turn on alleged rigging of the June 21, 2014 governorship election in the state.

Yesterday, Aluko claimed the rigging was perfected inside a hotel, barely a week before the poll.

Aluko said sensitive materials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), including ballot papers and result sheets were delivered to PDP chieftains to allow for the manipulation of the poll long before the first ballot was cast.

Speaking on a special interview programme yesterday evening on Adaba 88. 9 FM, monitored by newsmen in Ado Ekiti, Aluko claimed that the electoral materials were delivered through Akure Airport and taken to a hotel owned by Fayose’s Chief of Staff, Dipo Anisulowo, in Are Ekiti where the alleged manipulation was carried out.

He claimed that INEC ballot papers were thumb-printed and result sheets filled by PDP members, which gave their party the edge long before the electorate went to the polls.

Aluko explained that operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS), led by a female officer, stormed Anisulowo’s hotel and arrested the PDP members but they were released within three hours, following the intervention of the President Goodluck Jonathan-led administration

He disclosed that a lorry, conveying part of the electoral materials delivered through the Akure Airport, was intercepted by soldiers, led by the recently retired Brig.-Gen. Aliyu Momoh but materials were later released  after the officers received “order from above.”

He said the Fayose administration has received the refund of the N5.2 billion spent on Ado-Ifaki federal highway by the Fayemi administration, which he said the governor initially denied, but was confirmed by former President Goodluck Jonathan during the PDP presidential campaign rally.

The PDP chieftain alleged that the N5.2 billion has been diverted to the Ado Ekiti flyover project, following the outcry generated by the whereabouts of the money in the course of the investigation conducted by the DSS, the Police and EFCC.

“Ask him (Fayose) why did former commissioner for Works, Kayode Oso run away? Commissioner for Finance, Toyin Ojo, told his interrogators about the finances of the state including the N5.2 billion refunded on the Ado-Ifaki Road project carried out by Fayemi.

“Recall that Fayose had earlier denied receipt of the N5.2 billion refund, but the revelation by Ojo, while in custody, now made him (Fayose) to divert the money for flyover construction because Ojo told them that Oso was in a better position to explain on the refund collected on road.”

Responding to questions on the threat of the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Owoseni Ajayi government would prosecute him (Aluko) for alleged perjury. Aluko said Ajayi, too, is liable for prosecution for his alleged role in an attack on the court to prevent the delivery of a ruling on a perjury case involving Fayose.

Aluko said: “I pity Owoseni Ajayi, who is saying that I should be prosecuted, because he (Owoseni) was the one who placed a call to Fayose to organise the mob to disrupt the delivery of a ruling by Justice Olusegun Ogunyemi…”