Fayose destroyed my filling station for politics –Petrol dealer

A petrol dealer in Ekiti State, Chief Remi Oguntuase, has accused Governor Ayodele Fayose of demolishing his filling station under construction out of malice and vendetta for belonging to the All Progressives Congress.

Oguntuase, popularly known in social and political circles as REMOG, said he had valid papers and received clearance from regulatory agencies before he started constructing the demolished station located along Ilawe Road in Irona area of Ado Ekiti.

The filling station was one of the eight petrol stations still under construction in residential, business and school areas and taken over by Fayose on Tuesday.

Those taken over included those under construction in Okeyinmi, Irona, and Adebayo areas of Ado Ekiti.

Speaking with reporters on Wednesday at the scene of the demolished filling station, Oguntuase alleged that Fayose led the demolition squad wearing shorts and supervised the exercise for some minutes before leaving the place.

The APC chieftain recalled that Fayose, during his first tenure, destroyed the first petrol station along Ajilosun area.

He said another filling station was demolished along Ilawe Road by the governor so as to hide the alleged political undertone behind the action.

Oguntuase said, “The other filling station there owned by an Igbo man, Gilbert, was demolished so that it will not appear to people that politics was behind the action. If they are destroying the equipment installed, why are they destroying the fence?

“I have documents for the work being done here and it was inspected and certified fit by agencies like the DPR, Fire Service, Town Planning Authority, Surveyor General’s office and other relevant agencies of government and I paid the required fees and have the receipts.

“After the January 8 fire incident at Strive Energy, he (Fayose) ordered that we stop work and I complied and dialogue has been going on. The Ewi of Ado and the Commissioner of Police called us yesterday (Tuesday).

“I was at the Ewi’s palace after the king had ordered us to call off our strike with the Commissioner of Police and other stakeholders in attendance. Between 3:30 and 4:00pm yesterday (Tuesday), the governor was here in shorts, giving orders to trucks from the state Ministry of Works to demolish my structure.”

Oguntuase maintained that the action was politically motivated because he was a member of the APC.

He said, “Even the petrol station that was burnt which he claimed was the reason why he is carrying out this demolition was not demolished; the burnt station is still intact but the question I want to ask is why is he starting this latest exercise from my station again?

“Another reason why I believe Fayose’s action was political was that during the January 8 fire incident at Ijigbo, my father’s house and another APC chieftain, Alhaji Olatunji’s father’s house were affected by fire but the governor went ahead to demolish the two structures without our consent and without paying any compensation.”

Source: Punch