Fayose shuts Speaker’s filling station

Fayose shuts Speaker’s filling station

Ekiti State Governor Ayo Fayose got cracking yesterday-after days of castigating his predecessor.
His first major assignment was successful, but controversial.
He shut down a filling station owned by Speaker Adewale Omirin, alleging environmental reasons.
Four filling stations were sealed in Ado-Ekiti, including Omirin’s T. Five Integrated Service Filling Station.
A statement by Fayose’s Chief Press Secretary Idowu Adelusi said the step was taken to prevent a fire.
“The owners of the petrol stations are to report to the Ministry of Housing, Physical Planning and Urban Development with letters of approval,” the statement said.
The Speaker alleged that the governor ordered the closure to intimidate him.
In a statement by his Special Adviser (Media), Wole Olujobi, Omirin vowed not to “buckle under undue political pressure to abandon his party for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for selfish and pecuniary motives.”
He claimed that he fulfilled all necessary environmental laws in the location of the filling station and got approval.
Omirin has said intimidation and coercion by the PDP-led government would not force him to abandon the All Progressives Congress (APC).
He said no level of harassment, financial inducement or persecution would make him betray the people and the APC.
The Speaker said the governor has started victimising perceived political opponents.
He said: “I got all necessary approvals for the project. A lawmaker, Joseph Dele Olugbemi, told me two days after the governor’s inauguration that he (the governor) had made up his mind to close my filling station over my refusal to join the PDP.
“I had told the governor that in the interest of Ekiti people, the House of Assembly would work with him to serve the people.
“I called the governor to confirm what I was told. He denied it, swearing that he would not pursue any victimisation agenda against his opponents.
“But only yesterday the governor ordered the closure of the filling station, citing environmental factor.”
Omirin said he had a background of political fidelity anchored on progressive democratic practices and he would not abandon these principles in pursuit of a selfish agenda.
He said the political atmosphere in the state did not call for high-handedness and persecution against perceived opponents, but a collective pursuit of common goals to deliver good governance.
The Speaker said such attacks on opponents, particularly lawmakers, would create only such conditions inimical to cordial relationship between the Executive and Legislature.
Adelusi said the Speaker was not truthful.
He said: “The essence of the closure was to ensure sanity within the state capital and Ekiti at large.
“When a filling station is sited within a residential area, everybody knows the dangers.
“Four filling stations were sealed but it is an ongoing thing. This will take place throughout the state. It is to sanitise the state and prevent a fire.
“He (Omirin) should behave as a good politician. As the speaker, he should cooperate with the new government..”