By; OLADELE ADEDAYO, Ado-Ekiti
The All Progressives Congress (APC), Ekiti State chapter has threatened to institute legal action against Governor Ayodele Fayose for allegedly masterminding the detention of seven of its members for three and half years over complicity in the murder of the ex-state Chairman of the National Union of Road Transport Workers(NURTW),Chief Omolafe Aderiye.
Omolafe, a close ally of Fayose was killed on September 25, 2014 by
unknown gunmen in Ado-Ekiti,the state capital following which seven
chieftains of the APC were arrested and prosecuted for alleged murder.
Those discharged and acquitted were: the Coordinator of Oodua Peoples Congress(OPC) in Ekiti, Chief Niyi Adedipe, Chief Rotimi Olabiwonnu, Mr. Adebayo Aderiye, Sola Durodola, Kayode Ajayi, Oso Farotimi, Sola Adenijo and Rotimi Olanbiwonnu, who are card-carrying members of the APC.
But the State High Court presided over by Justice Lekan Ogunmoye, had in his judgement on Monday struck out the charges preferred against the detainees for want of evidence.
The party, through its Acting State Chairman, Mrs. Kemi Olaleye
yesterday held a victory rally, where they marched from the popular Okeyinmi area to Ajilosun in a long convoy of vehicles and motorcade conveying the freed ex-detainees.
To prevent a breakdown of law and order following pronouncement on a state radio that the people should boycott the rally under the guise
that the proponents were political hoodlums, the commissioner of
Police, Alhaji Abdullahi Chafe , deployed heavy security along
Okeyinmi-Ajilosun –Akure road .
The rally, according to the State party’s Publicity Secretary,Taiwo
Olatunbosun, was also organised to rally support for President Muhamadu Buhari, the party ahead of the impending governorship battle and to mark the return of their members from prison.
She also blasted Fayose for issuing a white paper banning Dr. Kayode Fayemi from holding political office for ten years for alleged corruption, saying: “the former governor is a leader in Nigeria and the governor was only joking with such illegal pronouncement”.
Addressing the crowd at Ijigbo junction, Olaleye, said the party
will go to court to challenge what she described as “unlawful arrest,
imprisonment and prosecution of their members for political reason”.
Olaleye said: “God has vindicated them and the judgement shows that the country’s judiciary is independent and we expect them to do more against Governor Fayose, because he is committing a lot of evils.
“We learnt that he has been bragging that he would re-arrest them, we dare him to do so, because we will go to court to seek redress on this gross abuse of our members’ rights.
“But let me say this, the Inspector General of Police, Mr Ibrahim
Idris must reinvestigate the cause of Aderiye’s death. Chief Aderiye
was an illustrious son of Ekiti and the cause of his death must be
known, he must not die in vain”.
The party issued seven-day ultimatum to Governor Fayose to release Mr. Sola Adenijo, who was rearrested for another offence immediately they were set freed by court, saying : “we won’t allow our members to be detained while we watch helplessly again”.
The party also declared interest in the reelection bid of President
Buhari, saying he deserves the second term considering his
achievements in office.
“Today,more than 10,000 Ekti indigenes across party lines are
benefiting from N-Power,the federal housing estate and federal
secretariat are under construction and many of our people were
appointed into federal boards, commissions and parastatals, the
school feeding programme is also a landmark achievement etc .
“Very soon, this party will release the achievements of President
Buhari in Ekiti, which governor Fayose has cornered to the public”,
the party said.
On the massacre in Benue, Olaleye sympathized with the Tivs over the
losses suffered, indicting the opposition of being behind the
killings to discredited Buhari’s government.
Describing the irregular payment of workers’ salaries in Ekiti as wicked
and inhuman, Olaleye added: “Governor Fayose earns a sum of N350m monthly and he has collected it up to date. But when it comes to the payment of that paltry salaries being taken by workers,he would say there was no money. God will judge him accordingly”,she said.
