Saying I’m Unfit As APC Returning Officer Is Defamatory-Aribasoye
Hon Adeboye Aribasoye, a member of the Ekiti State House of Assembly, has said it is defamatory and libelous for anybody to say he is unfit to be appointed as a returning officer for the governorship primary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), held in the state, last Thursday.
The lawmaker, who represents Ikole Constituency 2, maintained that he is fit to perform any duty for the party “on account of his proven integrity and consistency in the progressive fold.”
Aribasoye said this in reaction to a statement credited to one of the party’s aspirant in the primary, Engineer Kayode Ojo, who was said to have branded him as a lackey of Governor Kayode Fayemi and, as such, he is qualified him to hold such a sensitive position for APC.
The lawmaker said the party appointed him as the returning officer for Ikole Local Government Area for the primary on account of his unshaken, trusted and proven integrity and not for his loyalty to anyone.
He boasted that he is more than qualified to hold any position in the APC, no matter how sensitive, having been steadfast with the party since his foray into politics close to two decades ago.
Aribasoye described the allegation that he was one of the chief campaigners of one of the aspirants and winner of the primary, Hon Biodun Oyebanji, as a desperate attempt to smear his image and justified the claim being made against him.
He said the only role he played in the build-up to the primary was that he attended the stakeholders’ meeting held by Oyebanji with party leaders and members in Ikole Local Government Area, based on request and which he attended as an elected official in the council.
“I found it defaming, insulting and libelous for some of the aspirants to consider me unfit to be appointed as a returning officer for APC, a party I have served so zealously and assiduously as an ordinary member, one of the youth leaders and now a leader as an elected member of the House of Assembly.
“Let me clarify this: I was appointed based on my proven integrity and that widespread notion that I am diligent in whatever assignment given to me. I am not one person that can be swayed easily or push around by anyone. So, I did the task I was given dispassionately.
“Though I cannot deny my political affinity to Governor Fayemi, but that didn’t reflect in the discharge of my work as a returning officer. And on what basis would my closeness to the governor should affect my being appointed?
“The whole world knew that Governor Fayemi was not a contestant, he wasn’t on the ballot. So I consider this a mere smear campaign by some people.
“The governor had also made himself clear several times that he has no anointed candidate out of the eight aspirants that vied for the position and I knew this position didn’t change till the day of that election,” he said.
On his eligibility as a returning officer, Aribasoye said the APC Constitution didn’t define qualification for the position based on relationship, but on membership.
“As a party member, one should consider the party’s constitution as his or her working Bible. There was nowhere it was enunciated that one stand disqualified as a returning officer of the APC primary, based on your relationship with someone in that party.
“What the APC statute stipulated was that the person must be a member with proven integrity and good standing and the whole members of APC in Ekiti knew my stand and commitment to our party.
“With these, I restate that the Governor Mohammed Abubakar Badaru-led committee didn’t flout the rules or compromise the election by my appointment,” he said.
Aribasoye added that his critics also made a fatal mistake by making special reference to him, even when members of their political camps were also used by the committee as presiding officers and returning officers for the poll.
“At the stakeholders’ meeting held by the committee with aspirants, a day preceding the primary, all aspirants were asked to submit 20 names each to be used and these were incorporated into the list despite that they are from certain political camps.
“If their members and loyalists’ names could be compiled to be used as presiding and returning Olofficers, why then condemning my appointment?
“I want to submit that condemning my appointment under this context was akin to hypocrisy and I could only advise the aggrieved aspirants to think of the larger interest of the APC and support the party to win the next election because we are all stakeholders who owe it a duty to protect the party at all times,” Aribasoye added.
