Earlier this week, Dr Aluko and Governor Fayose appeared to have resolved their differences after a very public falling out earlier in the year that involved bitter mudslinging. Dr Aluko had gone on television to accuse Governor Fayose of gross impropriety including using the military to rig himself into office during the last gubernatorial elections in the state.
In response, the governor has said Dr Aluko was only bitter because he did not get appointed as his chief of staff as he had expected. On Monday, however, the duo appeared before the media in Lagos, saying they were going to bury the hatchet in the interest of peace in Ekiti State and would let bygones be bygones.
However, in a dramatic turnaround, Dr Aluko has said he was hoodwinked into entering a peace agreement and his disagreement with Governor Fayose still stands. Her recanting may be related to the fact that the Ekiti State attorney general and justice commissioner Owoseni Ajayi, said the perceived reconciliation would not stop the court case already filed against Dr Aluko.
Mr Ajayi said: “The apology of Aluko to Governor Fayose was personal. We can’t, because of this interventionist apology, collapse all our cases as government is not run that way.
“We can’t abandon our responsibilities as a state just because someone apologised to our governor on a case that was already pending in court. They are not fresh cases and we will pursue it to a logical conclusion.”
Senator Duro Faseyi, the chairman of the Senate Committee on the Nigerian Air Force, also described the truce as an insult, disrespect and a ruse to Ekiti State and its people. He added that Ekiti people are wise and cannot be deceived by the antics of Dr Aluko who had come out at different forums to discredit the wishes of the generality of Ekiti electorate over the poll.
“The latest development is nothing but a charade and comedy of the highest order, which must not be taken seriously at all. It was shocking to hear the purported meeting between Governor Fayose and Dr Aluko, despite all the damage that had been done so far by the latter over the 2014 governorship election," Senator Faseyi added.
On February 3, a chief magistrate’s court in Ado Ekiti had ordered the state commissioner of police, Etop James, to arrest and prosecute Dr Aluko for alleged perjury. Chief Magistrate Soji Adegboye, granted the order following a motion exparte moved by the state director of public prosecution Gbenga Adaramola.
Dr Aluko has since alleged that he was under duress when he addressed journalists in company of Governor Fayose and asked to reconcile. He has said he stood by all the allegations he had earlier made about former President Goodluck Jonathan assisting the governor to rig the 2014 Ekiti governorship election with the provision of security operatives and funds.
According to Dr Aluko, the Lagos reconciliation was stage-managed by Governor Fayose and some PDP chieftains to look like reconciliation. He also said he played along after sensing that his life might be in danger, although he refused to disclose the source of danger.
Dr Aluko added: “I received a call from two senior members of the party, one of them is a serving senator and the other is a former governor and I was told to come to the Eko Hotel to meet with them and I went in company with my wife. We were halfway into the discussion, which they tagged as a peace parley and I was shocked to see Governor Fayose walk into the meeting at this point.
"I won’t want to bore you with the drama and the face-off that ensued between me and Governor Fayose at the meeting. It is worthy of note that it was at this point that my wife barged into the meeting to inform me that she noticed the presence of pressmen downstairs, saying, there is a problem but Fayose interrupted her and said, Madam, there is no problem."
According to Dr Aluko, Governor Fayose rushed him downstairs in a Gestapo manner and he immediately realised that he needed to obey to instructions to face the press because of the safety of his family. Apologising to Nigerians for being naïve, Dr Aluko said that, perhaps, accepting the invitation was a tactical error.
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