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The confrontation between the Ekiti Governor, Ayodele Fayose, and the State House of Assembly is gathering momentum.
The Ekiti State Government on Tuesday sealed off four filling stations in Ado-Ekiti including T. Five Integrated Service Filling Station belonging to the Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Dr. Adewale Omirin.
According to a statement in Ado Ekiti on Wednesday by the Chief Press Secretary to Governor Ayodele Fayose, Mr. Idowu Adelusi, the step was taken to prevent unimaginable fire accident with attendant fatalities.
“The owners of the affected petrol stations are to report to the Ministry of Housing, Physical Planning and Urban Development with letters of approval,” the statement said.
Reacting to the closure on Wednesday, the Speaker alleged that the Governor ordered the closure in order to intimidate and coerce him.
Omirin, who is a member of the All Progressives Congress, and Fayose of the Peoples Democratic Party are believed to be at loggerheads.
The Speaker in a statement by his Special Adviser (Media) Wole Olujobi, vowed not to “buckle under undue political pressure to abandon his party for the Peoples Democratic Party for selfish and pecuniary motives.”
Omirin claimed he fulfilled all necessary environmental laws in the location of the filling station and got necessary approval, wondering why the governor would start victimising those who do not share his political belief.
The statement quoted the Speaker as saying that another Assembly member, Joseph Dele Olugbemi, had told him two days after Fayose’s inauguration that he (the governor) had made up his mind to close his filling station over refusal to join PDP.
Olugbemi was among the six APC members that defected to PDP on the day of the inauguration.
Omirin had earlier promised the governor that the House of Assembly would work with him in the interest of Ekiti people, to deliver dividends of democracy.
“I called the governor to confirm what the honourable member told me about the plan to close my filling station. The governor denied any of such plan, swearing that he would not victimise any opponent.
“But only yesterday the governor ordered the closure of the filling station, citing environmental factor,” the Speaker explained.
Omirin said he had a background of political fidelity anchored on progressive democratic practice and so would not abandon principle in pursuit of selfish agenda diametrically opposed to the ethos of his political belief.
According to him, the present atmosphere in the state does not call for high-handedness and persecution against perceived opponents, but a collective pursuit of common goals to deliver good governance to Ekiti people.
He warned that attacks on the opponents, particularly the lawmakers, will only smear the relationship between the Executive and Legislature.
But Fayose’s media aide denied that the decision to seal off the Speaker’s filling station and others had any political undertone.
In a telephone chat with our correspondent, Adelusi maintained that, “Those filling stations sealed off by the Ministry of Physical and Urban Planning were because they contravened environmental laws.
“They are sited within residential areas. They are not supposed to be within the residential areas.
“They are not the only filling stations in the state capital. If they didn’t comply with the environmental laws, the law should take its course. It has no political undertone.
“Four filling stations were sealed off but it is an ongoing thing. The exercise will take place through out the state. It is to sanitise the state and prevent fire outbreak.”
Meanwhile, the Governor has approved the appointment of Mr. Samuel Adeyemi ( Shakila) as the Chairman, Ekiti State Petroleum Products Consumer Protection Agency.
The appointment takes immediate effect.
In another development, Fayose will Thursday swear in Justice Emmanuel Omotoso as judge of the Ekiti State High Court.
