The governor of Ekiti State, Ayodele Fayose, believes that the federal government is using the Department of State Services (DSS) to shield Temitope Aluko, secretary of the Ekiti chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), from facing trial.
The DSS recently invited Aluko to its headquarters in Abuja where he was quizzed shortly after he told journalists in Abuja that the last governorship election in Ekiti was rigged in favour of the PDP.
Prior to this, a magistrate court in Ekiti had ordered the arrest of Aluko over allegation of perjury leveled against him by the state government.
Aluko had claimed that former President Goodluck Jonathan released $37 million for the election, saying Musiliu Obanikoro, former minister of state for defence, was the one who brought the money.
While faulting the interrogation, Fayose described it as “the use of an agency of government to prevent somebody that has breached the law of the land from prosecution”.
The governor, in a statement issued on his behalf by Idowu Adelusi, his chief press secretary, stated the recent confessions of his estranged ally contradicted his earlier claims when he stood as a witness for the PDP from the tribunal to the Supreme Court.
“To Aluko and his sponsors, he is a whistle-blower; one thing we are sure of is that the whistle will eventually explode on Aluko’s face as well as the faces of his sponsors,”
“Aluko is the one who stated he saw white and that the white has now turned black. Nigerians are demanding that he should be brought to the open to explain what he stated and maintained up to the Supreme Court level has changed.
“He testified under oath at the tribunal, Appeal Court and even the Supreme Court, and he came out again to recant. A vital arm of government, the judiciary, issued a valid order for his arrest and prosecution and that was widely publicised, but surprisingly, the federal government is using the DSS to frustrate that by pretending to be interrogating him and shielding him from facing trial.
“Democracy is hinged on separation of powers sand the rule of law so that nobody or arm of government would become the all-in-all. Those who are in authority now should know that others have been there before them and if their predecessors had turned everything upside down, what would they have met?
“If Aluko and his sponsors are sure of their allegations, let them release him for trial in the open court. The people of Ekiti State who voted overwhelmingly for Fayose and the PDP are ready to defend the mandate they freely gave.
“Every attempt they have made to rubbish the mandate have always failed, including this Aluko plot and nobody should use an agent of government to cover the shame some people willingly brought on themselves by chasing shadows.”