One Killed, Several Wounded As PDP, AC Supporters Clash In Ekiti

By Gbenga Sodeinde , Correspondent, Ado Ekiti

Ahmed Sadiq, a member of the Action Congress (AC), died on Monday and several others were injured in Oye-Ekiti in Ekiti State when the convoy of AC Governorship candidate, Kayode Fayemi, was attacked.
Oye-Ekiti is the home town of Senator Ayo Arise, a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
The Appeal Court last month quashed the election of Segun Oni and ordered a rerun ballot in 10 of the 16 councils in the state within 90 days.
Oni also belongs to the PDP.
Trouble started when a hall which was reportedly booked a week earlier for Fayemi's free health campaign was taken over by PDP supporters.
In the ensuing fracas, several people were wounded, including 70-year-old Alice Oladunjoye, who was shot at the back of the neck and taken to the hospital in critical condition, a witnessed said.
Both sides have been trading blame for the incident.
An AC member, Bimbo Daramola, said it confirmed that the PDP is jittery that Fayemi would win "because AC is more popular in Oye and Arise knows that the free health scheme would boost his chances.
"But we will repel it. How can Arise, who comes from this local government, be obstructing another man from this local government over a programme that would benefit his people when his (PDP) failed to do it?"
However, Arise denied the charge, explaining that he was to have a meeting with the council Chairman at the hall at 8 a.m. but that his men met AC people there who told them that they paid for the venue a week before him.
He said AC members attacked his men and the policemen who escorted them to the hall.
Arise alleged that both his Personal Assistant and his younger brother received machete cuts and his vehicle was vandalised.
He confirmed that he reported the matter to Police Commissioner, Chris Ola, and the Divisional Police Officer (DPO).
About six police vans arrived Arise's residence immediately after he called for police assistance.
State PDP Director of Communications and Strategy, Jackson Adebayo said: "It is obvious that AC has a sinister agenda. The party is not ready for the re-run election and the only way out is to throw the state into chaos with a view to getting the Federal Government to declare a state of emergency in Ekiti."
The latest clash is the fourth in two weeks.


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