24th April, 2014
As violence continues to trail the governoship election campaign in Ekiti, western Nigeria, thugs have destroyed the billboards and campaign posters of the candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, and incumbent governor of Ekiti State, Dr. Kayode Fayemi.
The suspected Labour Party, LP, thugs who were allegedly in the convoy of LP’s govrenorship candidate, Opeyemi Bamidele (MOB), and on a campaign rally in Ipole-Iloro, Ekiti West Local Government area of the state, allegedly attacked APC members in the community and injured some of them on Tuesday.
Narrating their ordeal in the hands of the political thugs, the wife of APC youth leader in the town, Mrs. Temilade Rasheed, said immediately she came outside from her house, “they descended on me and tore my cloth.”
Her husband, Okeowo Rasheed, an APC youth leader, also said: “I was in Prince Ade Ojo’s house when I was told that my wife was being beaten by Labour Party thugs. When I got to the scene, I saw thugs armed with axes, cutlasses and displaying charms. They were so violent that I could not go near them. I recognized one of the thugs.”
Rasheed said he and the other victims of the unprovoked attack reported the matter to the police at the Aramoko Divisional Police Station same day and that the police promised to visit the town the following morning.
Another victim of the attack, Toyin Afolayan, said she was in her brother’s shop when the LP thugs were shredding the billboards of Fayemi, and that her cautioning them only earned her several slaps.
Afolayan said they also hit her with a log of wood, warning that they would have killed her if she were a man.
She said it took the intervention of some bystanders to rescue her from the thugs.
The beating also extended to the Olupole’s palace where, according to eyewitnesses, the leader of the thugs identified as Tunde Lau-lau almost beat the wife of the traditional ruler who cautioned him and other thugs against beating a palace worker, Dayo Tijani, to death within the premises of the palace.
A witness of what transpired in the palace, Samuel Abegunde, shed more light on the incident:
“While Opeyemi Bamidele was with the kabiyesi, that boy called Tunde Lau-lau and others were behind the palace building, beating up a palace worker, Dayo Tijani. Tunde Lau-lau almost beat the Olori when she cautioned him. All this happened in the presence of the policemen who came with MOB. They also were shooting in the air as though it was a war. Go and look at kabiyesi’s cassava farm behind the palace building; the police shot into the farm. From the action of those policemen, it didn’t seem police job is to protect the people. It rather looked as though they were more concerned about harassing our people.
“A PDP member known as ‘Oro’ was with them. In fact, he said he wanted to make sure someone was killed in the palace. We later heard that there is an alliance between the Labour Party and the PDP – that whenever LP is campaigning anywhere, PDP members in the town should team up with them to make it look as though they are many, and vice versa.”
In an interview with newsmen, the traditional ruler of Ipole-Iloro, Olupole of Ipole-Iloro, Oba Oladele Asaro, said he was shocked at the sheer display of violence within the premises of his palace.
He said he took it up with the LP gubernatorial candidate, Opeyemi Bamidele, who promised to be responsible for the fixing of the shredded billboards of the APC and the demolition of a section of the fence shielding the BEDC transformer in front of the townhall.
Reacting to the alleged attack, Ahmed Salami, Special Adviser on Media to Opeyemi Bamidele, said: ‘‘The truth of the matter is that it was a group of political thugs who tagged themselves as APC boys that descended on some of our members while our governorship candidate Michael Opeyemi Bamidele and his entourage were on a visit to the monarch of Ipole-Iloro Ekiti, Oba Ezekiel Oladele.’’
He continued: ‘‘It must also be made clear that it took immediate intervention of policemen and operatives of the State Security Service, SSS on our campaign train to stop the boys from hurting our members. We later confirmed that their aim was to prevent us from gaining entry into the palace. Again the matter has been reported to the police and we hope for an urgent action to stop such premeditated attacks on our supporters.’’
According to Salami, ‘‘another irony of the claim by APC is that the so-called Deji Fakanle the younger brother of the erstwhile Ekiti West Local Government Area Chairman is currently one of the leaders of Labour Party. His only brother known to the world bearing that name is former SSS official aide attached to Dr. Kayode Fayemi.’’
Similarly, thugs suspected to be hired by Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, unleashed terror on Egbe-Ekiti in Gbonyin Local Government Area during a campaign rally in the town on Monday.
The people scampered for safety as sound of gunshots rent the air. A house belonging to a leader of All Progressives Congress, APC, Chief Dapo Awojolu, was worst hit by the rampaging thugs.
Shells from the bullets fired on the house could still be seen on the ground. According to eyewitnesses, the thugs who came in a truck were armed with guns, cutlasses and axes.
A resident of the attacked house, Adeyeye Gbenga, whose car which was parked in the compound was damaged, narrated the ordeal:
“When they got here, they parked and started shouting the name of Chief Awojolu. They accused him of not allowing PDP to thrive in this town. They threatened to destroy him. They brought out guns and started shooting at the house. You can see the damaged louvres and the bullet holes in the wall. My car which I parked in the compound was shot at several times. We just thank God that no one was hurt as we all took cover,” he told our reporter.
Another resident of the house and a younger sister of Chief Awojolu, Mrs. Grace Ogundana, said she shrank in fear at the sight of the PDP thugs, adding that it was God who saved those who were in the house at the time.
She said she spent the night in a farmstead out of fear and only returned to the house the following morning.
“It was as though they were high on something. One of the thugs who was dressed in red led the attack. The same thing happened last Thursday when Labour Party people came for their own rally. They demolished a section of our fence. Please, help us appeal to the police to protect us from PDP and Labour Party,” she said.
A resident of the town, Segun Fadunmiye, said though he was not at the scene of the attack, he heard the gunshots from where he was.
He said the whole town was in pandemonium while the attack lasted.
In an interview, the APC chieftain, Chief Dapo Awojolu, whose house was attacked, said the attack was unprovoked.
“Ayo Fayose’s strategy is an exception to the rule. His only strategy is to intimidate the people. When he got to the town on Monday, a few people welcomed him. I think that annoyed him.”
He also accused Labour Party members of attacking the same house on 17 April, 2014 during their campaign rally in the community.