Eleka fires back at Fayose
Former Ekiti State Deputy Governor, Prof. Kolapo Olusola-Eleka, has responded to former Governor Ayodele Fayose’s claim that he would have “repaid him with evil” if he had won the 2018 governorship election, insisting that political mentorship does not translate into ownership of a protégé.
In a statement issued on Tuesday, Eleka said while Fayose deserved recognition for supporting his emergence as deputy governor and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate in 2018, such support did not amount to a permanent claim over his conscience or constitutional responsibilities.
The response followed Fayose’s remark during the commissioning of projects named after him by Governor Biodun Oyebanji, where the former governor said, “If Eleka that I sponsored in 2018 had won, he would have repaid me with evil.”
Reacting, Eleka argued that the real issue was whether political sponsorship should be interpreted as “permanent ownership of another leader’s conscience, judgment, or constitutional responsibility.”
“In every constitutional democracy, the answer must be an unequivocal no,” he said.
The former deputy governor noted that Fayose’s decision to appoint him as deputy governor and later present him as his preferred successor in 2018 reflected the former governor’s confidence in his competence, integrity and leadership abilities.
He questioned what evidence justified Fayose’s current assertion that he would have betrayed him.
“If Prof. Kolapo Olusola-Eleka was considered worthy of serving as deputy governor, worthy of carrying the banner of continuity in 2018 and worthy of being presented to the people of Ekiti State as the preferred candidate, then it is only reasonable to ask what objective facts now support the conclusion that he would have repaid such confidence with ‘evil’,” the statement read.