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Members of All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ado-Ekiti were early Sunday attacked by suspected PDP thugs and mobile policemen led by the State Mopol Commander, Selenkere Michael.
The attack resulted in the death of an APC member from ward 12 in Ado-Ekiti while several others were seriously injured.
The APC members, who were led by the Interim Chairman of the party, Chief Jide Awe, had gathered at the Oluyemi Kayode Stadium in the state capital for a sensitisation rally round the major streets of the town.
The peaceful procession turned bloody when mobile policemen led by Selenkere, an indigene of Bayelsa State, pounced on the APC members, tear-gassing and shooting at them.
One APC member, who was shot in the head by the OC Mopol lost his life in the process while many sustained varying degrees of injuries. Three campaign buses of the APC were also badly damaged while the Commissioner for Integration and Inter-governmental Affairs, Mr. Funminiyi Afuye, a lawyer, was assaulted and arrested.
Also, everyone wearing APC branded t-shirt in sight was arrested by the Police.
This emboldened PDP thugs who were given police protection to unleash terror on APC members in sight.
Awe and two members of the National Assembly from the state, Senator Babafemi Ojudu and Hon. Oyetunde Ojo, who were part of the rally, tried to dialogue with the OC Mopol, but he shrugged them off, warning that he was acting on orders and would not hesitate to shoot at them.
The Ekiti State Governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, arrived the scene where the rally had earlier been disrupted 45 minutes later to intervene, but was also tear-gassed and his convoy shot at by mobile policemen.
Selenkere was involved in an altercation with the governor, saying he had orders from above and threatened that he could even arrest the governor.
For more than an hour, the mobile policemen shot in the direction of the governor’s convoy, while the OC Mopol kept uttering obscenities, one of which was that President Jonathan is his brother and that he was protecting his interest.
When told that the governor was in the convoy under attack, the OC mopol In apparent fit of anger, retorted: “Who is the governor when the Vice President is in town? I am acting on orders; I can arrest the governor.”
Ekiti State Police Commissioner, Mr. Felix Iyanna, surfaced over an hour later after he was reportedly intimated of the action of his OC Mopol by the governor.
Apologising profusely, Mr. Iyanna denied knowledge of the action of the OC Mopol.
“I am here to protect you,” said the Police Commissioner to the governor.
But the governor retorted, saying: “You are here to protect me and your men were shooting at me. I am the Chief Security Officer of this state and your men were firing at me. You have killed someone now! You have killed someone! Whose interest are you protecting? Whose interest are you protecting?” asked the governor who could not hide his disdain and anger at the top of his voice.
Ojudu said the presidency was desperate to impose Fayose on Ekiti people.
“They want to impose Fayose on us. We will not allow this! We will fight back,” Ojudu warned.
Awe and the Director-General of the Kayode Fayemi Campaign Organisation, Hon. Bimbo Daramola, later jointly addressed a press conference where both the Commissioner of Police and OC Mopol were given 24 hours to leave the state, otherwise the people may be tempted to rise against them.
Awe said he, Ojudu and Ojo tried to no end to dialogue with the OC Mopol whose eyes were bloodshot and was clearly out of control.
“He warned us that he was not ready to listen to us and that it was the order of Mr. President that we should disperse. We wanted to dialogue with him but he replied us with bullets. One of his bullets hit one of our members and the person died immediately. Three of our vehicles were badly damaged.
“The governor came about 45 minutes later and got his own treatment. One of his security aides was forcefully arrested by the OC Mopol who struggled to snatch his gun from him. All efforts to reason with the OC Mopol failed. He went ahead to tear-gass the governor who stood his ground.
“Even if the Mopol Commander has the order of the President, this is Ekiti. The governor called the Commissioner of Police who reluctantly came an hour later. We have been hearing this…The information at our disposal is that the June 21 election in Ekiti is not just going to be against the PDP, but against the Police and the Nigerian Army.
“What we witnessed this morning has confirmed this. That is why we are calling on Nigerians to prevail on the President. He was here yesterday (Saturday). While leaving, he stationed some of his men here.
Awe said if the president wanted to go to war, he should go to Chibok to battle Boko Haram.
“When a good president visits, it is to commission people-oriented projects. That is not the case with President Jonathan. He was here yesterday (Saturday) to commission his men to kill Ekiti people. We advise him to go to Chibok if he wants to wage war. If they are looking for a state to hijack, not Ekiti. If we are forced to the wall, we will bite.
“We use this medium to tell the Police Commissioner and the OC Mopol who have been instructed to shoot Ekiti people and who have demonstrated that this morning to leave Ekiti State within 24 hours. The people’s army are greater than the police or the Nigerian Army. The nonchalant attitude of the commissioner is to say the least unfortunate. If we are going for election in 14 days’ time and we are witnessing this, it is unfortunate,” Awe said.
Daramola recalled how the OC Mopol had harassed three members of the APC who were arrested a couple of months ago in their cells.
His words: “You would recall that I said that this same OC Mopol, not only is he from Bayelsa, not only is he well-acquainted with Mr. President, he also went into the cell to tell these people that he has a matching order to hunt us down. The experience of our people this morning has shown that there is a script. They even said they anticipated that we would come out this morning. We call on Mr. President to be indeed responsible. Leadership demands responsibility.
“We are used to adversity. Nobody should test our will. Neither Selenkere nor President Jonathan has a stake in Ekiti.”
It would be recalled that Vice President Namadi Sambo at a PDP gathering in Abuja had few weeks ago said his party was going to the war front in Ekiti and Osun states.
It was said that the Vice President waited behind in Ado-Ekiti after the Satrurday’s PDP rally where he reportedly spent the night in an hotel
