Three injured as supporters of Fayemi, Bamidele clash in Ekiti
• C’River APC may sue SIEC over council polls
THE internal crisis among members of the Ekiti State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) assumed a freighting dimension Monday as supporters of Governor Kayode Fayemi and those of a member of the House of Representatives, Opeyemi Bamidele, engaged in a bloody clash at Iyin Ekiti.
And at the end of the free for all, no fewer than four people sustained various degree of injuries. Seven people have been arrested in connection with the incident.
Meanwhile, the APC in Cross River State has flayed the State Independent Electoral Commission (CROSIEC) on its alleged decision to disqualify the party from contesting the September 21 local council polls.
The battle for supremacy between supporters of the two APC governorship aspirants in Ekiti began on Friday at the burial ceremony of the mother of an APC chieftain in Iyin Ekiti, Mr. Dipo Akinwumi.
There were various accounts of the cause of the crisis that seems to have turned the peaceful Iyin Ekiti to ‘war theatre’. Trouble was said to have started yesterday when the Senior Special Assistant on Security to the governor, Mr. Deji Adesokan, allegedly led a detachment of mobile policemen to arrest Opeyemi’s supporters accused of causing the weekend mayhem.
Some youths of the town were said to have protested against the move and the police had to deploy about 10 vehicle load of armed policemen, while an armoured personnel carrier was also stationed close to the ward office of the APC in the town.
Trouble started yesterday morning when some youths loyal to Bamidele, who represents Ekiti Central Constituency 1 in the House of Representatives, took to the streets to protest alleged intimidation by supporters of Fayemi, led by Adesokan and were resisted and attacked by some people.
Bamidele’s loyalists were also protesting the arrest of two of their members over last Friday’s clash at a burial ceremony.
Reacting to the allegation levelled against him, Adesokan said the policemen who went to Iyin-Ekiti were acting on the orders of the Commissioner of Police, Mr. Sotonye Wakama, that those behind Friday’s trouble be fished out and brought to book. He denied being involved in the crisis.
Confirming the development, the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Ekiti State Command, Mr. Victor Babayemi, said three people were injured and were taken to hospital for treatment.
Asked to comment on the allegation that the injured persons were shot, Babayemi said he would not know what caused their injuries but that they were injured.
But Bamidele, in a statement signed by his media aide, Mr. Ahmed Salami, pointed accusing fingers at the camp of Fayemi for causing the crisis. According to him, “It has just come to our notice that the Special Assistant on Internal Security to Governor Kayode Fayemi in the name of one Adesokan in collaboration with interim caretaker committee Chairman of Irepodun-Ifelodun drafted policemen and thugs to invade Iyin-Ekiti this morning in continuation of their ‘war’ against the people in an attempt to break their unflinching solidarity and support for their son, Bamidele who is currently running for governorship in Ekiti come 2014.
“Mr. Ola Fatokun was shot in the hand; Mr. Rasaki Bello was shot in the stomach while Ige Adeola was shot at the back at Iyin Ekiti today by a combined team of policemen and thugs led by Adesokan. It is unbelievable that such an act of terror can be happening in broad day light at a time that the nation is enforcing a state of emergency to stem the perpetration of terrorism and guarantee the security of lives and property in some other parts of the country,” the statement read.
The APC in Cross River described the decision as “a ridiculous act which has further questioned the independence of the electoral umpire.” “The decision of CROSIEC clearly depicts the romance of the electoral body with the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) administration upon which the decision was hatched,” it added.
Chairman of the State Independent Electoral Commission, CROSIEC, Patrick Otu, was said to have, last weekend during a meeting with all registered political parties in the state, declared that APC was not qualified to field candidates for the council polls since it was not up to 90 days old after its registration.
Otu was also said to have remarked that the commission took the decision after considering all legal implications concerning the new mega party and in order not to run foul of the law which “stipulates that if parties merge, the new party can only stand election after 90 days.”
He was quoted to have said “everything about election is law and nothing can be done outside the law. The former parties that merged to form APC are by law dead. What emerged will have to pay the price as no law covers what you were before the merger. By law, APC is disqualified from fielding candidates for both the chairmanship and the councillorship positions in the forthcoming elections”.
But in a swift reaction, chieftain of APC in the state, Mr. Hilliard Eta, said the decision to shut his party out of the election is a reflection of the position taken by the state Ministry of Justice which CROSIEC has consulted on the issue.
Eta, who was chairman of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria in the state, assured that his new party, APC, will challenge the decision in court. ‘’The law says the 90 days count from the very day of the service of notice of merger on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the day of service of notice of merger to INEC by APC is far beyond 90 days.”
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