Babafemi Ojudu, the former special adviser on political matters to the immediate past President Muhammadu Buhari, has claimed to have scripted and plotted the removal of the former governor of Ekiti state, Ayodele Fayose.
The former presidential aide's plan worked out with the support of former President Olusegun Obasanjo. He disclosed this while speaking on Edmund Obilo's state affairs podcast, published on Thursday, January 9.
Ojudu's comment reads in part:
“I plotted and scripted the impeachment of Fayose in Ekiti. I used Obasanjo, and when he realized it, he fought back against me."
How Ojudu signed deals with Obasanjo
He further disclosed that he signed an agreement with Obasanjo that Fayose should be impeached but that his deputy should be retained. He revealed that he took all the Ekiti lawmakers to Lagos state and lodged them in hotels.
According to the former presidential aide, he "was feeding and taking them around" during their stay in Lagos to execute the governor's impeachment.
He stressed that he was not a senator as of then and that he was just a journalist "who had money," and some of his friends also bankrolled him. According to him, the lawmakers were not happy with Fayose. He saw the weak spot within them and exploited it to impeach the governor.
Why Obasanjo fought Ojudu on Fayose's impeachment
Ojudu further recalled that former President Obasanjo was very angry with how things played out and gave "the deputy governor soldiers to return to Ekiti" and declared herself the state's governor.
On getting to Ekiti, Ojudu said he called on the people of the state to resist the deputy governor, and Obasanjo's government had no alternative but to declare an emergency in Ekiti.
He concluded that:
“Fayose sued me for libel, and Falana was my lawyer. I went to court and presented my facts, by the time we finished, Justice Daramola told Fayose, ‘You have no honour and integrity.'”
Fayose's tenure as Ekiti governor
Fayose was elected the second governor of Ekiti in 2003. During the general elections, he defeated the incumbent, former Governor Niyi Adebayo. However, his tenure was cut short by his impeachment on October 16, 2006.
The former governor, Fayose, also made a comeback in 2014 when he won the governorship election under the umbrella of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Fayose had remained a strong force in the politics of Ekiti, even after leaving the office over six years ago.
See the video of Ojudu's comment here:
This is so wrong and not something one should be proud of. 😢 pic.twitter.com/b0WC3zq45D
— Káyọ̀dé Ògúndámisí 🇳🇬 (@ogundamisi) January 9, 2025
