Former Ekiti State Governor Ayodele Fayose has claimed that the state was taken from him by the Federal Government in the 2018 election.
NEWSNGR reports that Fayose made the claim on Tuesday while speaking on TVC News, reacting to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike’s statement that he could have helped Tinubu win the election.
He argued that if the federal government decides to take an election, nothing can stop it.
Fayose stated that President Bola Tinubu was “magnanimous” during the 2026 Osun State governorship election,
He said, “The only thing I heard towards the election was the federal government will take it by force. The federal government has come to do this. I want to say to you, if the federal government wants to take an election, they will take it.
“If the federal government, the ones I know of the past, if they want to take an election, there’s nothing you can do.”
Fayose said the circumstances surrounding the Osun election were different from those he experienced during the 2018 Ekiti governorship election.
“Let me give you an instance. Ekiti was taken from me in 2018. By all means possible. Those features did not play out in Ede.
“Three days before my election, the government house was jammed. It was jammed. You can’t talk to anyone on the phone.
“All my security details from whatever name you call it, I was left with an order. All of them were taken to police headquarters in Ado Ekiti, and I was left on the field for three days. That is when you are talking a federal mind.”
Fayose further alleged that security personnel prevented him from leaving the Government House three days before the election and that he was assaulted when he attempted to come out.
“Beyond that, three days to the election, I wanted to do a match with over 60,000 followers. I was stopped. I was stopped by the security personnel.
“And I told them I am the governor of this state. An inspector told me, governor my foot. And they prevented me from coming out of the government house.
“And I said I was going to come out at all costs. And to that day, they hit me with the butt of the gun, and I went down. My deputy at the time had the same experience.
“That was why I had the collar on my neck at the time. I wish I had that image for Nigerians to see. I had four surgeries, four procedures because of that incident alone.”
