FIJ
Babafemi Ojudu, a former political adviser to ex-President Mohammadu Buhari and former senator representing the Ekiti Central Constituency, has confessed to inducing lawmakers to successfully impeach Ayo Fayose while he was governor of Ekiti State.
Ojudu, who is also known for his journalism career, said on a podcast show with Edmund Obilo that was published on Thursday, that he scripted and plotted the impeachment of the former Ekiti governor in 2006.
Obilo was referring to some contents of Ojudu’s book titled The Adventures of a Guerrilla Journalist. As per the book, the journalist said that he had stories he would still write about his time in government and some of the daring things he did in Ekiti State.
He said that one of the daring adventures he embarked on was getting the approval of former president Olusegun Obasanjo to impeach Fayose, who was sworn into office as the second elected civilian governor of Ekiti in May 2003.
“This is the adventures of a guerrilla journalist. Yes, a good fight is the main one. But I have stories that I am going to write about my experience in government and the kind of crazy things I have done in Ekiti. I have removed a governor. I impeached Fayose. I plotted and scripted the impeachment of Fayose,” Ojudu stated in the podcast.
“You did?” Obilo asked.
“Yes, I did,” he reiterated.
Ojudu said he signed an agreement with Obasanjo to only impeach Fayose and not Abiodun Olujimi, his deputy. He said to make this happen, he took lawmakers of the state assembly, led by Friday Aderemi, and sponsored them on a vacation to Lagos.
He said he did this after he realised that the lawmakers were not happy with their governor in a lot of ways and he chose to exploit the link. This was also despite the governor being a member of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) as the lawmakers.
Ojudu also admitted to using his influence to restrain Olujimi from proclaiming herself as Deputy Governor.
“I used Obasanjo, and when Obasanjo realised, he fought back against me. I had an agreement, and I signed an agreement that Fayose has been doing this and doing that. And he said, ‘If you are going to impeach him, make sure you do not impeach the deputy.’,” Ojudu claimed in the podcast.
“I agreed, and I signed. I took all the lawmakers to Lagos and kept them in a hotel. I was feeding them, and I was taking them around. I was not a senator; I was a journalist.
“I took all the members of the House of Assembly and gave them money to follow me. They were members of the PDP, but they were not happy with him. I saw that lacuna — the weak link — and I exploited it.
“I took them to Lagos. For Obasanjo, I used the people around him to convince him that there was a need to do that. We did it. We did it and got him out of the place.
“Obasanjo was angry and then gave soldiers to the deputy governor to return to Ekiti and proclaim herself as deputy governor. So when she got there, I called people to resist her, and they had no alternative but to declare an emergency.”
Ojudu affirmed he did all that.
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