Fayose and former Ekiti State PDP secretary Dr Aluko make up after bitter falling out

EKITI State governor Ayo Fayose and a former secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state Dr Temitope Aluko have resolved their differences after a very public falling out in the year that involved bitter mudslinging.

 

Earlier this year, Dr Aluko went 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.

 

All looked set for a long-running battle between the two of them but in a surprise development,  both men appeared before the media together in Lagos yesterday to announce a truce. They described their falling out as a misunderstanding and resolved to bury the hatchet in the interest of the party.

 

Dr Aluko said: "Over the last one and a half hours, I have met with my brother, Governor Ayodele Fayose, so we are resolving the issue, we have made appreciable progress and we hope and pray to God that there will be peace. This is about misunderstanding, this is about talking together, this is about family coming together, this is about well-meaning Nigerians stepping in and that is all we have achieved now.”

 

Responding, Governor Fayose said: “In politics, we have to resolve issues and we have made considerable progress like he said. His coming is to further strengthen the progress he is talking about and I am sure if this is not important, he won’t be here.

 

"He is here because there must be peace and I want to let you know that a lot of issues have been discussed and he wants us to give you basic information  that we are making considerable progress. For him to be here shows that there is peace and that there is a step forward."

 

Stressing that the issue remains in the past, the governor added that he us the father of Ekiti State and so whatever has happened in the past, is a bygone.  Adding that their disagreement was one of those things, the governor said he can accommodate everybody.

 

"If I leave him to the whole world, who would be there for him? Nobody. I am his father, I am his brother, whatever the past has held for all of us, I am still his father,” Governor Fayose added.