Since the inauguration of Ayo Fayose as the new governor of Ekiti state on Thursday, October 16, 2014, where, six members of the APC in the state assembly have decamped to the PDP, events have taken new turns, including his unveiling his 1965 model of Mercedes official car in a bid to be closer to the poor masses.
Barely a week into office, Fayose has dissolved some local government areas set up by his predecessor, sacked local government chairmen, dissolved boards of all commissions and agencies and then blasted the immediate past governor a couple of times the latest being for expending a huge amount of money to build the government house during his administration.
Furthering his transformation agenda in the state, Fayose on Thursday, October 23, 2014, directed that four fuel stations be closed down including T. Five Integrated Service Filling Station owned by the speaker of the Ekiti state assembly, Dr. Adewale Omirin.
This was made known through Fayose’s chief press secretary, Idowu Adelusi, who said the directives by the governor was in a bid to “prevent unimaginable fire accident with attendant fatalities.”
A statement signed by the chief press secretary disclosed that the government ad issued directives to the owners of the four fuel stations to take a letter of approval to the Ministry of Housing, Physical Planning and Urban Development.
Adelusi said that the fuel stations contravened environmental laws as they are sited within residential areas. He insisted that the closure has no political undertone, according to reports.
“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,” he said.
Meanwhile, the speaker of the state assembly, Omirin, who was among the victims disclosed that the governor’s action was bent on intimidating and forcing him to defect to the ruling People’s Democratic Party.
Speaking through his Special Adviser on media, Wole Olujobi, Omirin maintained that he followed the right process before establishing the station with due approval adding that he would not “buckle under undue political pressure to abandon his party for the Peoples Democratic Party for selfish and pecuniary motives.”
Furthermore, the speaker in the statement revealed that two days after the governor’s inauguration, a member of Ekiti house of assembly, Joseph Dele Olugbemi, who recently decamped to the PDP, told him that the governor was determined to shut down his fuel station since he refused to join PDP.
According to Omirin, he “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.”
He further urged the governor not to take advantage of his subjects who support other parties other than PDP.
