Fayemi’s Team Mocks Pollster, Counsels PDP To Prepare For Defeat

The Kayode Fayemi Campaign Organisation has dismissed as nightmarish an opinion poll result conducted by information analysis firm, NOIpolls, predicting victory for the governorship candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Prof Olusola Eleka, in the July 14 election.

It said NOI opinion poll result is a pre-meditated arrangement to fulfil a contractual engagement by politician working for other politicians with common partisan interest and urged PDP to prepare for defeat over abuse of Ekiti people’s right to good governance and development.

An opinion poll on Ekiti governorship election by NOIpoll was published few days ago suggesting victory for Eleka, with PDP members jubilating over the prospect of victory.

But a statement by Director of Media and Publicity, Kayode Fayemi Campaign Organisation,Wole Olujobi, spurned the suggestion, dismissing it as a “warped sentiment of a competitor also acting as an umpire in a one-man game”.

Noting that NOI poll result would not have been different from what was published as pre-conceived because of the ownership profile, Olujobi explained:

“NOI poll result would not have been different from what we read giving victory to PDP because of the ownership structure.

“The outfit is owned by former Minister of Finance in President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, a staunch member of PDP that is struggling for breath after bequeathing the legacy of waste to Nigerians now at the mercy of poverty and squalor.

“Truth is NOI is an abbreviation of Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala (NOI). The poll company had earlier conducted several opinion polls with bizarre projections in 2014 and 2015 with ridiculous results that diminished its worth, so much that we thought the organisation would have closed down its operations as a result of its unprofessional and inaccurate projections.

“But because NOI’s assignment in Ekiti is more of political interest than service provision to Nigerians, it is fraudulent for a partisan outfit like NOI to pretentiously present itself as serving on non-partisan platform.

“In 2015, working with President Jonathan, NOI grossly failed in its mandate to objectively project the outcome of the presidential election, giving Jonathan over 70 per cent chance above APC candidate, Muhammadu Buhari, who NOI rated as the fourth in the ballot but who eventually emerged as the winner with a wide margin in the presidential contest.

“NOI went to a ridiculous extent to predict that Jonathan would win the entire North Central with Buhari only winning North East and North West. Jonathan, it predicted, would clinch the entire North Central, the South West, South East and South South.

“In its polls before presidential primaries, NOI rated Buhari fourth behind Jonathan, Senator Rabiu Kwakwanso and Governor Babatunde Fasola of Lagos among the prospective presidential aspirants.

“But Buhari not only defeated Kwakwanso in APC primaries, he also went ahead to defeat Jonathan in the presidential election, thus NOI’s prediction  collapsed on its promoter’s face after Jonathan had wasted his money to produce a misleading projection.

“NOI is today doing more of political gambling in Ekiti State than statistical analysis of information to produce valid result ahead of the July 14 poll.”

Olujobi added that the realities on ground in Ekiti State did not support NOI’s assertion in its projection.

He explained: “Those leaders that would have helped PDP to mobilise for votes have defected from the party to APC over irreconciliatory differences with Fayose.

“In virtually all the strongholds of PDP, its leaders have defected with their supporters to render PDP prostrate in those areas.

“For example, leaders in local governments, such as Ise/Orun, Efon, Ido-Osi, Ikole, Ikere, Ekiti West and Oye where PDP used to be strong, have since defected to APC with their supporters citing Fayose’s alleged greed and inhuman conduct.

“Besides, the critical segments of the society, including workers that are denied their salaries, market women, trade groups, farmers and private businesses that now pay suffocating taxes with several businesses closing shops as a result of Fayose’s undemocratic and bullish conduct are up in arms against the governor and so we wonder where NOI will recruit the spirits that will give PDP victory in the July 14 poll.”