Peter Ayodele Fayose (born 15 November 1960) is a

Nigerian Nigerians or the Nigerian people are citizens of Nigeria or people with ancestry from Nigeria. The name Nigeria was taken from the Niger River running through the country. This name was allegedly coined in the late 19th century by British jour ...

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

and the former

Governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

Ekiti State Ekiti State ( yo, Ìpínlẹ̀ Èkìtì) is a state in southwestern Nigeria, bordered to the north by Kwara State, to the northeast by Kogi State, to the south and southeast by Ondo State, and to the west by Osun State. Named for the Ekiti peo ...

Early life

Fayose grew up in

Oyo State Oyo State is an inland state in southwestern Nigeria. Its capital is Ibadan, the third most populous city in the country and formerly the second most populous city in Africa. Oyo State is bordered to the north by Kwara State, to the east by Osun ...

where he attended

Olivet Baptist High School Olivet Baptist High School, Oyo, Nigeria (formerly Oyo Baptist Boys' High School), located on a hillcrest named Olivet Heights, was founded by American Southern Baptist Mission on 29 January 1945 on its original site in the premises of the old Bapt ...

, Oyo. In 1985, He was admitted to a Higher National Diploma (HND) programme in Biological Sciences/Applied Medical/Biology by

The Polytechnic, Ibadan The Polytechnic, Ibadan (typically called "Poly Ibadan") is an institution of higher learning in Ibadan in Oyo State, Nigeria. Founded in 1970, Poly Ibadan is similar to other polytechnics in Nigeria. The institution was established to provide ...

and graduated in 1987. While doing his

National Youth Service Corps The National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) is a program set up by the Nigerian government during the military regime to involve Nigerian graduates in nation-building and the development of the country. There is no military conscription in Nigeria, ...

program at

Pepsi Pepsi is a carbonated soft drink manufactured by PepsiCo. Originally created and developed in 1893 by Caleb Bradham and introduced as Brad's Drink, it was renamed as Pepsi-Cola in 1898, and then shortened to Pepsi in 1961. History Pepsi was ...

Nigeria Limited,

Ibadan Ibadan (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Oyo State, in Nigeria. It is the third-largest city by population in Nigeria after Lagos and Kano, with a total population of 3,649,000 as of 2021, and over 6 million people within its me ...

, he engaged in installation, maintenance and servicing of medical and laboratory equipment. He is married to Feyisetan. He conducted one of the most sought after medical outreach programmes during his political campaign in 2001.

Political career

Fayose became the second governor of Ekiti on 29 May 2003, after defeating the incumbent Governor,

Niyi Adebayo Otunba Adeniyi Adebayo (born 4 February 1958) is a Nigerian lawyer and politician who has served as minister of Industry, Trade and Investment of Nigeria since August 2019. He previously served as governor of Ekiti State from 29 May 1999 to 29 ...

in the gubernatorial elections. He could not complete his tenure as a result of an impeachment on 16 October 2006. During the

2014 Ekiti State gubernatorial election The 2014 Ekiti State gubernatorial election occurred in Nigeria on June 21, 2014, the PDP nominee Ayo Fayose won election, defeating Kayode Fayemi of the APC. Ayo Fayose emerged PDP gubernatorial candidate after scoring 462 votes and defeati ...

, Fayose was again the PDP nominee. He won the election and was declared by the

Independent National Electoral Commission The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was established in 1998 and is the electoral body which oversees elections in Nigeria. History Regulation and administration of elections The administration of democratic elections in Nige ...

as the new Governor of Ekiti State, for a second term as a governor. The then incumbent governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi conceded defeat and was one of the earliest to congratulate Mr Fayose for winning the election. Fayose was inaugurated on 16 Of October, 2014. Fayose is now the only Nigerian to defeat an incumbent two times. Fayose has also publicly declared his intentions to run for president in

Nigerian general election, 2019 General elections were held in Nigeria on 23 February 2019 to elect the President, Vice President, House of Representatives and the Senate. The elections had initially been scheduled for 16 February, but the Electoral Commission postponed the ...

. His party, The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, admonished him against the ambition to be the party’s presidential candidate in 2019. Fayose later dropped his ambition.

Allegation of vote rigging

An army intelligence officer, Captain Sagir Koli of the Nigerian Army 32nd Artillery Brigade, secretly recorded a vote-rigging plan on June 20, 2014 when he was asked to accompany his then commanding Officer, Brigadier General Aliyu Momoh, to a meeting at Spotless Hotel in Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti State. The 37-minute audio recording was attended by the eventual “winner” of the election, Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State; Senator

Iyiola Omisore Iyiola Ajani Omisore (born 15 September 1957) is a Nigerian businessman, engineer, and politician who served as Deputy Governor of Osun State from 1999 to 2003. Subsequently, he served as a member of the Nigerian Senate for Osun East from 2003 t ...

Osun State Osun State (; yo, Ìpínlẹ̀ Ọ̀ṣun), occasionally known as the State of Osun by the state government, is a state in southwestern Nigeria; bounded to the east by Ekiti and Ondo states, to the north by Kwara State, to the south by Ogun S ...

; a member of the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repre ...

Abdul Kareem; the Minister for Police Affairs Alhaji Jelili Adesiyan; the former Minister for Police Affairs and navy captain Caleb Olubolade; the Minister of State for Defense Senator Musiliu Obanikoro and PDP

Anambra Anambra State is a Nigerian state, located in the southeastern region of the country. The state was created on August 27, 1991. Anambra state is bounded by Delta State to the west, Imo State to the south, Enugu State to the east and Kogi Stat ...

chieftain and failed senate candidate Chris Uba, as they bribed army Brigadier General Momoh with a rank promotion for his assistance in carrying out election fraud in Ekiti State. For exposing the vote-rigging of the Ekiti State governor election of Fayose, Captain Sagir Koli was praised by the military for his “non-partisanship and professional conduct during the election period.”

Travails with the EFCC

The

Economic and Financial Crimes Commission The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is a Nigerian law enforcement agency that investigates financial crimes such as advance fee fraud (419 fraud) and money laundering. The EFCC was established in 2003, partially in response to pre ...

froze four

Zenith Bank Zenith Bank Plc is a large financial service provider in Nigeria and Anglophone West Africa. It is licensed as a commercial bank by the Central Bank of Nigeria, the national banking regulator. As of 31 December 2019, it holds $16.1bn in total ass ...

accounts allegedly used by Fayose to launder money for his Ekiti governorship election in 2014 in a lawsuit no. FHC/CS?871/2016 titled “

Federal Republic of Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of G ...

Vs Zenith bank PLC account numbers 1003126654, 9013074033, 1010170969 and 1013835889.” The judge Justice Mohammed Idris had granted the EFCC on June 24, 2016 an order to freeze all the funds in the said accounts in Zenith Bank. Two accounts belong to Governor Ayo Fayose while the third belongs to his hotel Spotless Hotel in Ado Ekiti. The fourth account was operated by one of Fayose’s aides, Abiodun Agbele, who is under EFCC custody. The EFCC had alleged that those accounts possessed funds, said to be about N4.7 billion (US$20mn) stolen from the office of the

National Security Adviser A national security advisor serves as the chief advisor to a national government on matters of security. The advisor is not usually a member of the government's cabinet but is usually a member of various military or security councils. National sec ...

, with most of the money secretly retained by Fayose for his personal use after the election. Ayo Fayose was fingered by former Nigerian Minister of State for Defense,

Musiliu Obanikoro Musiliu Babatunde Obanikoro (popularly known as Koro) is a Nigerian politician. He served as Senator for Lagos State from 2003–2007, and was later appointed High Commissioner to Ghana. He served as the Minister of State for Defence during 20 ...

as one of the beneficiaries of the $2.1billion arms deal scandal, which saw the illegal diversion and theft of funds that was allegedly appropriated to fight the Boko Haram insurgency. Fayose is alleged to own a radio station, Our People's FM, on 104.1 MHz in Ado Ekiti. The station was forcibly seized for a time in 2019, allegedly due to land use violations, though political considerations were also mentioned.

Challenged Aisha Buhari To Travel To USA

On 22 June 2016, Fayose had claimed that

Aisha Buhari Aisha Halilu Buhari (born 17 February 1971) is the First Lady of Nigeria and wife of the current President Muhammadu Buhari, who assumed office on 29 May 2015 after defeating the then-incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan. Aisha Buhari is a co ...

, the wife of the Nigerian president

Muhammadu Buhari Muhammadu Buhari (born 17 December 1942) is a Nigerian politician and current president of Nigeria since 2015. Buhari is a retired Nigerian Army major general who served as the country's military head of state from 31 December 1983 to 27 Au ...

was the same person (''who had claimed to be a daughter of General Muhammadu Buhari'') indicted by a US Court for transferring $170,000 to indicted US Congressman, Williams Jefferson, in the William J. Jefferson corruption case involving

Halliburton Halliburton Company is an American multinational corporation responsible for most of the world's hydraulic fracturing operations. In 2009, it was the world's second largest oil field service company. It has operations in more than 70 countries ...

and that she was avoiding arrest by US authorities by failing to accompany her husband on his three presidential visits to the United States. However, when Aisha Buhari travelled to

Washington DC ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

on 4 August 2016, Fayose subsequently claimed that her US visit did not invalidate the Haliburton judgement against her, saying "Has traveling to the US invalidated the judgment that said Aisha Buhari transferred $170,000 to Jefferson’s account? “Has traveling to the US erased the fact that Aisha Buhari transferred $170,000 to Williams Jefferson?
Finally Fayose Breaks Silence: Reacts To Aisha Buhari's Trip To USA, Attacks Her Again "

References