Ado-Ekiti — SOCIO-ECONOMIC activities in Ado-Ekiti, the Ekiti state capital were yesterday paralysed as supporters of the former state governor, Ayo Fayose, trooped to the streets to welcome him. He declared that his return to the state was to clear his name of many allegations.

Fayose, it would be recalled, fled the state in the heat of his political travail which led to his impeachment last year.

His removal followed his indictment by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) which accused him of diversion of the state treasury and other financial misdeeds. Only recently he was declared wanted by the commission, but he insisted that that would not stop him from returning to the country.

The former governor made true his pledge yesterday as he rode to streets of Ado-Ekiti with a lengthy convoy. He was received by a tumultuous crowd and horde of commercial motorcyclists popularly known as Okada riders.

Police had a hectic day controlling the teeming crowd that milled around during a parade organised for him by his acolytes and the opposition parties in the state.

The former governor while addressing the crowd who stretched the main road from the Okesa area of Ado Ekiti to Ajilosun stressed that he was around to clear his name of all the allegations, ranging from pilfering of the state treasury and some alleged murder charges.

Fayose reiterated that his ouster from office was akin to political victimisation, pointing out that people had now realised that after a year of his political sojourn outside the state that the state was still stagnant, arguing that the situation was contrary to the fast pace of development he had set the feet of the state upon.

Fayose who described himself as the architect of modern Ekiti and a bonafide member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) posited that he was ready to align with any elected leader in the state, regardless of political affiliation as long as the plight of the grassroots was in the mind of such leader.

He said: "I sincerely shared from your pain especially shortly after my exit which for a long time remained a mystery to you and many others. I was made to suffer for what I knew nothing about rather than being honoured, I was humiliated, rather than being promoted, I was persecuted.

"I know you were living witnesses to how I turned around our non-existent social infrastructure, empowering you, putting smiles on your faces and touching your lives individually. In the face of all my troubles, and conspiracy against me which led to my forced exit, I was able to leave a whooping cash sum of N5.4 billion naira in the state coffer, N1.4 billion as share from Oodua Group of Companies and the N800 million state debt at the former Omega Bank was offset

"My return to the state is to live my life as an ordinary citizen and to clear my name of all the alleged wrongdoings. With the advice of my numerous political associates, I am still a bonafide member of the PDP, and I urge you my people to be peaceful, tolerant, law-abiding in the overall interest of the state."

Fayose, who pledged to refrain from act capable of heating up the polity, praised the governorship candidate of the Action Congress (AC), Dr. Kayode Fayemi, for resorting to legal means to seek redress over the controversial April poll, saying there was nothing profitable like peace in life.

But the state government while reacting to his arrival after the ill-fated impeachment of the former governor as a welcome development that would present a veritable ground for him to answer to all the charges before him, stressed that his bravery should not be made to be derided by escaping again after the parade organized for him.

Speaking through the Attorney-General and Commissioner of Justice of the state, Mr. Gboyega Oyewole, the state admitted that the former governor despite his political travail has the constitutional right to come to the state, but advised him to abide by the law.

Oyewole stressed that the parade organized for the ex-governor by his supporters on arrival was not embarrassing or considered a threat to the state government, pointing out that the carnival organised for him by his admirers was meant to provoke the state government.

The state chief law officer advised Fayose to act in accordance with the provision of the law and refrain from act capable of plunging the state into unprecedented crises as witnessed under his administration.

Oyewole expressed satisfaction with the court ruling discharging the subsisting Federal High Court ex-parte order that immunised Fayose from prosecution, saying this would make the former governor prone to arrest like other ex-governors.

The AC in the state, who reacted through the Media aide to Fayemi Campaign Organisation, Yemi Adaramodu, had opined that Fayose has that right to reside in the state like any order citizen, having being born in the state coupled with his status as a former governor.

Adaramodu who debunked the insinuation that the party had a pact with the former governor said the popularity of Fayose was due to the fact that the present government was yet to be accepted by the people.