APC Accuses Ekiti Fayose Of Clamping Down On Opposition Leaders

The All Progressives Congress, APC, in Ekiti State has raised an alarm over alleged clampdown on its leaders and supporters by Governor Ayo Fayose, saying the hounding of its leaders into jail is a fulfilment of the governor’s declaration at his inauguration ceremony last year to run APC leaders out of the state.

A statement by Publicity Secretary, Taiwo Olatubosun, said the alarm became imperative in the face of persistent framing of APC members arrested on trumped-up charges that saw them ending up in jail.

Reacting to the arrest of Rotimi Olambiwonnu last night, he said: “Governor Fayose at his inauguration ceremony last October publicly declared a one-minute silence for the death of APC in the state, promising to send the party members out of town.

“True to his declaration, no fewer than 10 leaders of our party have been hounded out of town while two are in jail over trumped-up charges even as teachers that were perceived as having sympathy for APC were transferred to the remote areas of the state while the governor is still after Fayemi’s officials to seize their cars even when the matter is in court.”

“This is the same way he wants to eject them from their housing estate homes against legal agreement in the purchase of their houses.

“His first victim was our Chairman, Chief Jide Awe, who the governor implicated in the murder of Mrs Juliana Jeje and Ayo Jeje in Erinjiyan-Ekiti, even when it was proven that Awe was out of the town when violence broke out among party rivals that claimed the lives of the victims,” he said.

Olatubosun said other persecution followed in quick succession, including attacks on APC members and candidates during campaigns and destruction of candidates’ posters, while APC Assembly candidates were not allowed to run their campaigns.
“Only last night, another top sympathizer of our party, Mr Rotimi Olambiwonnu (aka Mentilo), was arrested over alleged complicity in the murder of the drivers’ union late leader, Omolafe Aderiye, who was killed by unknown assailants in September last year,” he explained.

Olatubosun expressed worry over police handling of the cases levelled against APC members, citing Niyi Adedipe’s case, which the police in cahoots with the governor manipulated to ensure that the innocent man was clamped in jail over Omolafe’s murder.