Closure of Petrol Station; Ekiti Speaker Alleges Intimidation to join PDP

The Speaker of Ekiti State House of Assembly, Adewale Omirin, has accused the state government of intimidating him in view of his membership of the opposition All Progressives Congress, APC.

Omirin said that he would not buckle under ‘undue political pressure’ to abandon his party for the ruling Peoples’ Democratic Party, PDP, for selfish and pecuniary motives.

The speaker, who in a statement by his media adviser, Mr. Wole Olujobi, reacted to the closure of his petrol filling station in Ado-Ekiti, allegedly on the orders of the governor, Mr. Ayodele Fayose, said the action amounted to intimidation for his refusal to defect to the PDP.

Omirin said he fulfilled all necessary environmental laws in the location of the filling station, and got necessary approval, wondering why the governor was starting early in the day victimising those who do not share his political belief.

He said: “The present atmosphere in the state does not call for highhandedness and persecution against perceived opponents, but a collective pursuit of common goals to deliver good governance to Ekiti people”.

According to him, attacks on the opponents, particularly the lawmakers, would only create conditions inimical to a cordial relationship between the executive and legislature necessary for smooth running of government.

But the state government denied the allegation, saying there was no iota of truth in the speaker’s allegation.

The Chief Press Secretary, CPS, to the governor, Mr. Idowu Adelusi, told journalists on phone that the essence of closing some petrol filling stations within residential areas was to ensure sanity in the state.

Adelusi, who said the order on such petrol stations near school and residential buildings that constituted environmental hazards was for regulation, said: “Everybody knows the danger if there is fire outbreak as it had happened in some towns and cities.”

Meanwhile, the state government has reiterated its commitment to the provisions of the country’s constitution on the procedures for local government creation.