Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State has debunked the claim made by Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Hon Adewale Omirin, that his fuel station, T5 Petrol Station, was sealed for political reasons, describing the allegation as the height of mischief and misrepresentation of facts, noting that as a public office holder, “the Speaker does not have legal rights to own private business.”
Fayose, who was speaking in a statement sent to DailyPost on Thursday by his Special Assistant on Information and Social Media, Lere Olayinka, said; “as against the falsehood being spread by the Speaker and his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), the Speaker’s Petrol Station, alongside three others were sealed up for contravening environmental laws.”
He listed the four fuel stations affected by the government action to include; INIS Integrated Services located along Iworoko Road, Ado-Ekiti; belonging Hon Churchill Adedipe, NIPCO Petrol Station (Morolu Global Services), Isato-Oke in Ado-Ekiti (belonging to Mr Oloko), T5 Petrol Station, Ajilosun in Ado-Ekiti (owned by Dr Adewale Omirin) and PHENROSE Limited, Ajilosun in Ado-Ekiti (owned by Mr Gilbert Igweka).
While advising the Speaker to thread softly so as to prevent himself from being pushed into perdition, the Governor said, “Code 2 (b) of the Code of Conduct Act prohibits public office holders like the Speaker from participating in management or running of any private business, profession or trade.
“Therefore, those making noise in the media that Dr Omirin owns a filling station are only trying to throw him inside the web of the Code of Conduct Tribunal, and the noisemakers won’t be available to help him out of the mess they would have put him.”
In setting the record straight, the statement from the Governor’s media aide reads, “Four filling stations were sealed-up and one of them belong to an Ibo man. Are they also saying that the Ibo man is a politician and being coerced by the governor?
“Are they also saying that Mr Oloko, the owner of NIPCO Petrol Station (Morolu Global Services) is a member of the APC and a serving member of the Ekiti State House of Assembly?”
The statement ended by enjoining leaders of the APC, particularly the immediate past governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi and his godfather, Senator Bola Tinubu to accept their fate and let peace reign in Ekiti State.