‘BISI AKANDE LIED CANDIDATE of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the August governorship election in Osun State, Dr Iyiola Omisore, has refuted the claim by former interim National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief Bisis Akande, that he borrowed from their election campaign funds in the1999 governorship election. Dr Omisore, in his reaction to an interview granted by Chief Akande in our sister publication on Saturday, stated that Chief Akande had “merely concocted a big lie to cover his many inadequacies.” “I cannot imagine why an old man like him would tell such a big lie,” Omisore wondered, explaining that he asctually paid for the expression of interest form that Akande used to contest the election. “I recall that myself and Chief Abiola Morakinyo had paid N250,000 each for our nomination forms before Chief Bola Ige asked me to step down for Chief Akande and be his deputy. I can tell you that it was my form that Chief Akande used to contest. He didn’t buy any form. Not many of them could afford that amount of money at that time,” Omisore explained further. According to the PDP chieftain, he was not surprised that Chief Akande would bite the finger that fed him. “Judging from where he is coming from and the political party he is in, telling such a big lie would come naturally. But why he should continue at his age is what is baffling. I believe there are still many true leaders of Alliance for Democracy (AD) around like Chief Moji Akinfenwa, our chairman then; and Chief Morakinyo who would not stand truth on its head and who will tell the story of how some of us funded AD and election of Chief Akande,” he said. Also reacting to the interview, another AD governorship aspirant in the state then, Chief Abiola, decried the claim by Chief Akande, saying the former ACN chairman lied. “Though after I was rigged out of the primaries, I left, I can tell you that it was only Omisore and myself that paid N250,000 fee for the nomination form. To my knowledge, Chief Akande did not buy any form. Instead, he used the form already obtained by Omisore as his own, based on the instruction of Chief Bola Ige who wanted Akande to be governor of the state. “What happened in the party afterwards, I cannot say because I went my own way. “On who killed Bola Ige, Professor Wole Soyinka, at the lying-in-state for Ige, said those who killed Ige were in the gathering at the stadium. I recall President Olusegun Obasanjo and other leaders were there, but Omisore was not there as I recall. “Professor, as we all know, is not a frivolous person. He does not talk without proof. That should give you an idea of what and who killed Ige. And I also don’t believe that person is Omisore,” Chief Morakinyo said. Also, the Financial Secretary of the AD at the time, Ayotunde Olowofoyeku, while reacting to the development, corroborated the claims of Dr Omisore. “It is wrong to let these old men consistently change or try to alter recent history in our nation for cheap political gains. I was an active participant in the politics of the AD in its formative years and was the party’s financial secretary in Osun State. “I know that Senator Iyiola Omisore was the one who paid the N5 million for the registration of the AD. We had pulled out of the All Peoples party (APP) a few hours earlier in Abuja and had only 24 hours before the deadline for party registration. It was a new party made up of mainly Afenifere and the Yoruba, the money had to be paid within 24 hours, otherwise, the party would not be registered. “Chief Akande was economical with the truth when he said he did not know if Chief Kofoworola Bucknor took money from Omisore, He knows, because that money had to be paid there and then in Abuja before they could come back home. “As regards the claim of spending N50,000, Chief Akande spent no money on the election, because he had none. Here, I think he should be eternally grateful to the children God gave him to nurture; Senator Iyiola Omisore, my humble self and many others too numerous to mention. We gave him all we had, but all he had for us was to disparage or try to maim us. “We taxed ourselves and friends to get funds for the campaigns. I got pictures of Chief Bola Ige and Senator Abraham Adesanya from the Concord press and solely designed and printed all posters that were used for the campaigns in late 1998 local government elections and in 1999. “Members of my church choir, RCCG, Kingscourt, Lagos, did all the campaign jingles that were used and air time paid from Iyiola Omisore Organisation (IOO)’s funds,” he said. Olowofoyeku added that Chief Akande also lied when he mentioned in the interview that Senator Omisore was driven in his (Akande’s) car. He said; “Chief Akande didn’t use any money to buy petrol for his car because he didn’t have any. “He knows that Chief Bola Ige did not provide any car. From 1 December 1998 to September 1999, he used my car, a metallic green Nissan Quest that was driven by Uche, my driver, who was later killed in an attempt to assassinate me at Omi-Asoro in Ilesa.
Posted on: Sun, 26 Oct 2014 15:36:56 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015