Fayemi’s opponents can’t win smear campaign, says APC stalwart

Gbenga Sodeinde, Ado Ekiti

An All Progressives Congress, (APC) chieftain in Ekiti satte, Dr. Andrew Orire has declared that the campaign of calumny against Governor Kayode Fayemi by his political opponents in the party would neither derail nor distract from the good works being engineered by the present government to revamp Ekiti economy.

The APC chieftain who declared that he was not opposed to the suspension slammed on former Governor Segun Oni by the party’s state executive, explained however, that every punitive action should be done in line with the party’s laid down rules.

According to him, the suspension of Oni was done in an immature manner and contravened due process, reiterated his belief in party supremacy and that nobody should prove or be seen to be above the party.

Also, he warned party chieftains in the state against taking actions that could trigger crisis within the state chapter of the APC, thereby undermining the commitment of the Fayemi administration in giving the populace the desired democracy dividends.

Orire said: “if Ojudu becomes governor, he would have his people and preferences. When Segun Oni was campaigning to be the candidate of the APC, he and his cronies had already shared all the positions.

“I was not happy with Dr. Fayemi during his last regime. We had this Action Group of a thing, I knew later it was not a useful exercise. I asked myself why are we shouting, why don’t we just call ourselves together?

“If Fayemi won’t go to Ojudu and others, why don’t they meet him at the Government House and talk things over.

I did something last time when those factions were coming up, I set up a group of elders and stakeholders in the state, when we instituted the group, we took the meeting to former Governor Bamidele Olumilua.

“We were meeting in that place. We invited Governors Segun Oni, Kayode Fayemi, Babafemi Ojudu and Opeyemi Bamidele. May be Ojudu and Bamidele came once but these former governors did not come.

That is where we could have settled everything; we should have collapsed everything into a structure and there shall be no faction and not until we do that, factions will always exist.

“Everyone of us that stood for election last time had supporters and that is what we call factions and that is what makes a party to grow, and it is only when you combine these factions together that our party will be formidable.

“If we are still going along the line of factions, the party will be getting powerless, membership will be reducing and the opposition will have power over us and the person at the helms of affairs will have upper hand.

“You don’t expect Fayemi to come and put his enemies in position of appointments. On employment, you don’t expect him to do that for his opponents.

Even at that, great supporters of Segun Oni were currently on appointment under Fayemi also Ojudu”s supporters. You can pick about five or six of them. That’s a superior move by Fayemi over and above them. So they cannot win.”

Speaking on the clarion call by the aggrieved stakeholders to save APC in Ekiti, Orire added that “a political party is not a spiritual organization. When you talk of democracy, that means ideas should be respected. Until we come down and see ourselves as one, it is going to be degenerating.

“While I will not support them destroying the party and the government, I will also call Fayemi to be magnanimous and call them together.

The way he started in appointing people from the other factions and supporters from other groups is what he should carry on with.

“Ekiti is still not industrialized, we should work together and allow the state to grow. Let’s make the best use of what is available. Kayode Fayemi is what is available now and we must cooperate with him.”