Governor Ayodele Fayose said aspirants vying to fly the flag of the All Progressive Congress, APC, in the July 14 governorship election in Ekiti State were throwing money around ahead of the party’s primary.
Fayose alleged this in Ado-Ekiti, the state capital on Wednesday while addressing newsmen.
The governor expressed worry over the alleged money politics particularly when it was being done by members of a party that prides itself as fighting corruption.
He claimed that that a particular aspirant gave each delegate N250,000 with a promise to offer them N1 million each on the day of the party primary, urging the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) and other relevant agencies to beam their searchlight into the alleged monetization of the electoral processes in the state.
“The whole of this weekend, they are busy spending money as if we were in general election. And if truly we are fighting corruption, the way money is being moved around Ekiti; this can compromise this governorship election, even the 2019 election.
“If an aspirant is giving N1million, come and imagine what 32 aspirants will give. If a delegate is giving N1million, if he is targeting 1500 delegates, then he is going to spend N1.5 billion on the election. Where is this money coming from? This clearly shows that no corruption is being fought.
“Every beer parlour in the state, they now celebrate the money of APC. The electorates must not mortgage their future. They must not have their future cut short by this money politics, and this is certainly not in the interest of democracy.
“And coming from acclaimed defenders of democracy and one fighting corruption, this is high-level desperation. If they get to power, they will recoup the money from the government coffers. They will rape the state,” he said.
