The All Progressives Congress has vowed not to
allow strangers to take over Ekiti State.
Its Chairman in the state, Chief Jide Awe, said
during the state Congress in Ado-Ekiti on Sunday,
that the party had “men and women of honour who
are going to be at the vanguard of this struggle” to
upturn the emergence of Mr. Ayodele Fayose of the
Peoples Democratic Party as the state governor-
elect.
Awe, who was returned as chairman after eight
years in office, said, “This is our land. The land of
the progressives, We won’t allow any stranger to
take it from us.
“The struggle for emancipation of Ekiti State has
just started. I know we have men and women of
honour who are going to be at the vanguard of this
struggle. We at the head of the struggle will not
shack in our responsibility.”
He however did not name those he described as
strangers.
Governor Kayode Fayemi, who was represented by
his deputy, Prof. Modupe Adelabu, said he was
optimistic that the APC would “overtake and
recover “ the state from the PDP.
He however appealed to opposition parties in the
state to stop fighting over APC’s petition at the
election petitions tribunal.
Fayemi said, “The APC is getting stronger. The
party is on the ground, effectively, efficiently and
absolutely. From what I have witnessed, we still
have a firm grip of the state.”
In a veiled reference to the PDP, the governor
pointed out there was no reason for anyone, group
or party to fight “if you don’t have skeleton in your
cupboard.”
He said, “The tribunal will be an opportunity for
everybody to prove we have an authentic result. I
wonder why people don’t want the tribunal to sit.
This shows we should put our mind to rest. In our
pursuit, we are going to overtake, we are going to
recover.”
Chief Sam Jaja, the leader of the national
delegation which supervised the congress,
congratulated the newly-elected APC officers in
the state. Describing them as committed people,
he added, “You are not cowards. I know that come
2015, you will come out with your supporters to
vote enmasse for the APC.”
The new officers include Kemi Olaleye, deputy
chairman; Paul Omotosho, state secretary;
Gbenga Agbeyo, assistant secretary; Sola
Omolayo, treasurer; Taiwo Olatubosun, publicity
secretary; Femi Ogundana, Youth leader; Iyabo
Babatunde, Auditor and Ronke Okusanya,
Woman Leader.
But Fayose, through his Chief Press Secretary, Mr.
Idowu Adelusi, said the APC leaders were only
deceiving themselves.
He said, “The APC leaders, especially, in Ekiti State
are only deceiving themselves. If they think they
are progressives, they are not because they are
pretenders. They are wolves in sheep skin. PDP
has won in Ekiti State; so, the APC should forget it.
“I want the Ekiti APC to know that by 2015, APC will
exist only in name, especially in this state. It will
have no structure because its members would
have defected to the PDP.
“We are going to do this with landmark projects.
Laudable programmes to be embarked upon by
Fayose would make them to defect. For them to be
saying they will recover Ekiti is just an imagination.
They are daydreaming; it will never come to
reality. For the next 50 years, APC will not come
back to Ekiti State.”
Also, the state PDP Publicity Secretary, Kola
Oluwawole, said it was wrong for progressives
that make up the PDP in the state to be referred to
as strangers
He said, “We don’t have any trouble with the
tribunal because the election was free and fair.
What we are complaining against is the procedure
adopted by the judge in the case by the Ekiti 11.
“On the contrary, we (PDP) are the progressives.
APC members in the state are not progressives;
they are retrogressives. If they are progressives,
they will know how to accept defeat.”
Tension mounts in Ekiti as police beef up security
There was still tension in Ado-Ekiti on Sunday as
news of a reprisal by suspected members of the
Road Transport Employees Association of Nigeria
spread in the city.
The state chairman of the National Union of Road
Transport Workers, Mr. Omolafe Aderiye, a
staunch supporter of Fayose, was killed last
Thursday by persons believed to be political thugs.
His death caused the violence that led to the
burning down of the residence of a former state
chairman of the RTEAN, Mr. Rotimi Olabiwonu and
five vehicles belonging to him by people yet to be
identified on Friday.
The threat of reprisal is coming on the heels of a
fresh allegation by the PDP that the APC had
concluded plans to import thugs from Lagos.
But the APC said the allegation was a figment of
the imagination of the PDP.
Aderiye, a staunch supporter of Fayose, was
considered as a rival to Olabiwonu, a Fayemi
loyalist.
The news of an imminent reprisal attack by the
RTEAN members made motorists and commuters
to avoid the Ajilosun area of Ado-Ekiti.
Police have however beefed up security around
Ajilosun, Ijigbo, Old Garage , Fajuyi Park and
Ojumose junctions which are considered the
flashpoints of the city.
About 10 pick-up vans carrying riot policemen and
soldiers were seen moving towards the areas
which were taken over by RTEAN members.
The PDP, in a statement by its Publicity Secretary
in the state, Kola Oluwawole, on Sunday called on
security agencies to be on the lookout for
troublemakers.
It said, “Only last Monday, we raised the alarm that
the APC had commissioned some people to attack
PDP leaders and were threatening PDP leaders,
some people said we were only raising false alarm.
But three days later, Chief Aderiye, a leader of the
PDP in Ado-Ekiti was killed.
“We have it on good authority that the APC has
commissioned thugs coming in four 18-seater
buses to Ekiti. They were said to have left Lagos
around 11pm on Saturday. They were armed with
acid, cutlasses, guns, sledge hammers, syringes
and other dangerous weapons to harm the people
of Ekiti State.
“These thugs will appear in PDP vests and fez
caps to execute their dastardly act within one
month.
“Certainly, they are likely to have arrived in Ekiti by
now. They will move about on motorcycles to
execute their dastardly act.
“Ekiti people who gave their mandate to Fayose
are their targets and as well the PDP members.
The APC thugs are on a revenge mission to avenge
the defeat of Fayemi in the June 21 election and
for aborting last Monday’s judicial coup.
“Ekiti people are enjoined to be vigilant and to
report any strange element to the police.”
The state Police Command had earlier said it had
received “an intelligence report that some
hooligans within the state and their accomplices
outside the state are planning to wreak more
havoc and disrupt further, the existing fragile
peace in the state.”
In a statement by its Public Relations Officer,
Victor Babayemi, entitled “Mayhem and threat to
peace in Ekiti, “ the command said it had placed
its men on the red alert to prevent bandits from
carrying out nefarious activities in the state.
It said, “The state Commissioner of Police, Taiwo
Lakanu, has ordered the deployment of adequate
manpower to embark on extensive vehicle and foot
patrols on every nook and cranny of the state.
“He has equally directed that policemen should
henceforth embark on thorough search of vehicles
and pedestrians so as to forestall importation of
dangerous weapons.
“In view of the current happenings in the state, the
Commissioner of Police wishes to warn that any
person or group of persons that have no lawful
business in the state to stay away.
“He further warned that the full weight of the law
will be visited on any individual or group fomenting,
aiding or abetting the commission of crime in any
part of the state.”
The command said it had been empowered to
enforce the dusk to dawn curfew and therefore
warned residents to abide very strictly with the
order.”
Meanwhile, the Secretary of the Nigerian Bar
Association in Ilesa, Osun State, Mr. Olayinka
Sokoya, has condemned the attack on judges and
lawyers in Ekiti State.
Sokoya, in an interview with one of our
correspondents in Osogbo on Sunday, advised that
those who sponsored the attacks should be
punished.
He said that it was disheartening that a judge could
be so attacked on the premises of a court while
security agents watched without taking action.
While condemning the police and other security
agencies for allowing attacks on the court twice
within a week, he said those behind the attacks
should not be allowed to go unpunished.
Sokoya said, “court is regarded as a sacred place
but thugs with the backing of their political fathers
have violated its sacredness and they should be
punished.
“Security should be beefed up at the premises of
every court, not only in Ekiti State. What some
hoodlums did in Ekiti State could be repeated
elsewhere if security is not tight around the
courts.”
A magistrate at the Osun State Judiciary, who
spoke on condition of anonymity, also condemned
the attack on the judges and lawyers in Ekiti State.
The magistrate said that perpetrators must be
brought to justice.
He said, “ As far as I am concerned, this is a bad
signal for our democracy. If there is a dispute
between two political actors, the best step to take
is to approach the court. But a situation where the
court is no longer safe should be a concern to
everybody.”
According to him, judges may be afraid of sitting if
there is no adequate security for them especially
inside the courts.
Also, the APC in Osun State has linked the attack
on the judiciary in Ekiti State to President Goodluck
Jonathan’s alleged second term bid.
The party, in a statement by its Director of
Publicity, Research and Strategy in the state, Mr.
Kunle Oyatomi, also described Fayose as the
arrowhead of the Peoples Democratic Party’s
alleged plan to execute the President’s plan.
It accused him of being behind the attack on the
Ekiti High Court, an action it believed posed a
grave danger to the nation’s democracy.
The statement read, “The fact that Federal
Government security officials stood by and
watched while Fayose and his rampaging horde of
thugs were beating up a judge and hurling objects
at lawyers is a clear indication that the PDP is
complicit.
“It is imperative not only that Fayose and his thugs
should be made accountable, everything should be
done to let President Jonathan realise that no
Federal Government has ever survived by creating
anarchy in the South-West.
“The earlier this lesson is learnt by the Jonathan
administration, the better for democracy in Nigeria.
“Fayose should be closely watched because he
appears to represent PDP’s game plan of using the
rule of the jungle to capture and sustain itself in
power. Fayose is possibly the arrowhead of that
strategy in the South West.”
But the Osun State branch of the PDP accused
the APC in the state of planning to commit arson by
using thugs who would disguise as members of the
PDP.
The Director of Media and Publicity of the PDP in
the state, Mr. Diran Odeyemi, added that the APC
was planning to cause massive crisis just like the
one in Ekiti State in order to stop the Election
Petition Tribunal from sitting.
Odeyemi, in a statement said, “ We are constrained
to alert the general public to an ongoing plot by the
APC to forment trouble in Osun State and blame it
on the PDP. We have it on good authority that the
Government of Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola has
perfected plans to commit arson through its agents
who will disguise as members of the PDP.”
The magistrate added, “It is barbaric and
everybody should speak against it. The society
would descend into anarchy if judges, lawyers as
well as litigants are no longer safe in the court.
“Security should be beefed up in all court across
the nation because this kind of barbaric behaviour
has the tendency to spread if those behind it are
not the quickly brought to justice.
“Judges are human beings and they don’t have
spare lives, many of us could stop sitting if we feel
unsafe.

source: http://www.punchng.com/news/well-recover-ekiti-from-pdp-says-fayemi/

Try to make the article readable.

Is that the reason why they want to re c-havoc in ekiti at all cost?

Its a shame Fayemi has allowed the pressure from Lai Mohammed and his fellow violent followers in the national body becloud his judgement. Ekiti state had no reason to shed blood until the national apc started meddling. May God protect the Ekiti people, its a rough journey.

By the way, I like what the governor elect said "APC will not be heard of in this town the next 50years" lol, that's a bold saying and strangely, I agree. I doubt if there will be an APC by this time next year.

Look at the kind of people we allow to govern us in this country. Bunch of good for nothing touts.

I can't wait to see APC lose 2015 presidential election at least all their lies, propaganda, hypocrisy,empty threat, noise and violence would end.

GEJ and his pdp knows Ayo fayose is a criminal and tout yet they went on to impose his on Ekiti people. If they are so sure he won the election, why ordering the beating of Judges? How can an animal like fayose lead normal humans? As big as Ekiti, as educated as Ekiti people, animal like Fayose is only one pdp saw as a right candidate for them. PDP is a party of touts. I sense the same thing happening in Rivers state with Nyesom Wike and PDP come 2015

@llilprinze who tell u that Gej will win in 2015 just be deceiving yourself people are tired of rice and kerosene bribery ooooooooo.fayose will be disappointed again Cos' there are so many cases he av to answer in d court of law.I know d election is not free and fair its was rigged by thuggery he moves with .

size38: GEJ and his pdp knows Ayo fayose is a criminal and tout yet they went on to impose his on Ekiti people. If they are so sure he won the election, why ordering the beating of Judges? How can an animal like fayose lead normal humans? As big as Ekiti, as educated as Ekiti people, animal like Fayose is only one pdp saw as a right candidate for them. PDP is a party of touts. I sense the same thing happening in Rivers state with Nyesom Wike and PDP come 2015

GEJ imposed FAYOSE or Ekiti people elected him? Fayemi is just not popular and lost woefully failing to win a single local government in the state election.

cktheluckyman:

GEJ imposed FAYOSE or Ekiti people elected him? Fayemi is just not popular and lost woefully failing to win a single local government in the state election.

Please tell them again o. The people have voted yet APC wants heaven to fall down on earth.

if Fayemi is banking on another salami magic,he is on a very long thing