Ekiti Election: Peace Corps Denies Conniving With Fayose, Commits To Credible Election

Agency ReporterJuly 2, 2018

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The Peace Corps of Nigeria (PCN) Ekiti State Command has denied allegation of connivance with Ekiti State Governor, Mr Ayodele Fayose, ahead of the July 14 governorship election in the state, describing the purported collusion as “untrue, frivolous and calculated attempt to soil the name of the PCN”.

PCN State Commandant, Patriot Mathew Okotie, who said the organization was apolitical and would not meddle into political activities considering its establishment statute, urged politicians “not to drag the PCN into political issues during and after the Ekiti governorship election”.

Okotie, in a statement in Ado Ekiti, restated the commitment of men and officials of the organization “to ensure peace and tranquility before, during and after the Ekiti governorship election without affiliation or association with any political party or politician.”

The PCN official spoke in reaction to allegation by a group of workers under the aegis of Enlightened Workers Forum, who last week accused the Ekiti Command of PCN of, in connivance with Governor Fayose, capturing and collating data of PCN members according to the Wards, Polling Units, the VIN and serial numbers on the voter’s cards belonging to members of the Corps with a view to perpetrating electoral fraud on July 14.

Okorie went on to reiterate the organisation’s readiness to partner stakeholders in the quest to entrench peaceful co-existence in society.

The state commandant said that it was in that strength that the PCN, early in 2017, wrote to the Ekiti State government requesting “partnership in maintaining peace and order, checking cultism and other social vices at education institutions in the state, hence the positive response of the state government in November last year”.

According to him, “the recent meeting between the state government and PCN was a follow-up to the previous deliberations between both parties since 2017 preparatory to resumption for the next academic season when PCN officials are expected to be deployed to educational institutions to forestall anti-social activities.”