The candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in
the August 9, 2014, governorship election in Osun
State, Iyiola Omisore, has confirmed attending a
meeting captured in a leaked tape, which allegedly
provides details of how leaders of the Peoples
Democratic Party, PDP, and soldiers plotted to rig
the Ekiti election in 2014.
Mr. Omisore however denied that they discussed
how to rig the June 21 polls.
In an interview, reported by Sahara Reporters on
Monday, Mr. Omisore said the PDP candidate in
the Ekiti governorship election, Ayo Fayose, who
is now the governor, merely went to the army
camp to complain that his supporters were being
harassed by the soldiers while police officers were
being disarmed.
“There was no meeting actually. Fayose went to
the army camp to go and complain about the
Nigerian Army arresting his people alleging that
Governor Fayemi bribed the soldiers to arrest his
people. That is all,” he said.
“If you listened to that tape there was no issue.
In the same vein they showed on TV yesterday on
video that (Governor Rauf) Aregbesola rigged the
election. It was physical. This one was physical
and is not being uprooted by APC but that one
was just a voice over, so you can see the
difference.”
The controversial audio recorded by an army
captain, Sagir Koli, revealed a meeting between
his superior, Aliyu Momoh, a brigadier general,
former Minister of State for Defence and currently
a ministerial nominee, Musiliu Obanikoro; the
Minister of Police Affairs, Jelili Adesiyan; Mr.
Omisore and Mr. Fayose, strategizing on how to
rig the June 21, 2014 governorship election.
Mr. Omisore admission came barely a week after
President Goodluck Jonathan who was mentioned
in the audio by Mr. Obanikoro, claimed the audio
was fabricated and would not give it any
attention.
“It’s all fabrications. Why should I investigate
things that are not real?” the president told Wall
Street Journal, in a recent interview.
Mr. Jonathan later explained that he did not rule
out the possibility of a meeting, but the claim it
was about rigging.
Both Messrs. Adesiyan and Fayose had earlier
admitted the meeting held but that its agenda
was not how to rig the election.
Mr. Obanikoro denied participating in the meeting.
The former minister threatened to sue media
organisations, including PREMIUM TIMES and
Sahara Reporters, which have continued to report
the issue.
Mr. Omisore, a former senator and deputy
governor of Osun State, admitted urging the
participants in the meeting to calm down when
they went to complain to Mr. Momoh about the
disarming the policemen on duty and harassing
the PDP members.
“What I am saying is that if you listen to that
tape, you will know the difference. The issue being
canvassed on that tape was complaints by
Fayose about soldiers arresting PDP or disarming
policemen, simple!
“All I said was calm down, calm down! What
happened was that we were told the army were
disarming the Nigerian policemen. So in that case
is that you are supposed to be working as
partners and so how can you override your
partners. That was what he was cautioning them
for that day.”
“The issue on ground was the Nigerian army
disarming the Nigeria policemen. So he (Fayose)
was just advising the army general that he must
cooperate with the government agency and they
must work together – the Nigerian Army, the Civil
Defence Corps and the Nigerian police etc.”
Mr. Omisore lambasted the All Progressives
Congress for unnecessarily overheating the matter
just as he alleged that Mr. Aregbesola rigged the
Osun state polls in which he (Omisore) lost.
“So, there is a propaganda noise about APC. They
just make noise unnecessarily. Look at the case
of Aregbesola and how he rigged Osun election
when he was seen thumb-printing. These are the
isues you are supposed to be talking about,” the
PDP governorship candidate who recently lost to
Mr. Aregbesola at the election tribunal, said.

ugoogift:
like seriously?.... so dat tape was authentic afterall...

Surplus90:
accordingto this, it is

Joymichy:
This is more serious than I thought

Joymichy:
This is more serious than I thought

arsetalks:
The president said it was fake. Yet some bigoted people will come here saying GEJ till their lives is ruined.

A sensible president would probe the said incident but off course he won't as he himself was indicted in the tape.

Omisore said Fayose was merely advising the army? How comical. You were advising the army and you had to threaten the general?

They still think we are fools. March is around the corner.

Caseless:
there is a part of jonathan that goes off whenever he speaks and, that part is his brain.