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Ekiti riot: Fayemi defends supporters

Posted by By MATTHEW DIKE, Ado-Ekiti on 2007/08/13 | Views: 603 |

Ekiti riot: Fayemi defends supporters


The Action Congress (AC) standardbearer in Ekiti State, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, yesterday wrote to the State Security Service (SSS) to exonerate himself from an alleged riotous rally that led to a breakdown of law and order in the state.

…Says PDP plans to attack AC leaders

The Action Congress (AC) standardbearer in Ekiti State, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, yesterday wrote to the State Security Service (SSS) to exonerate himself from an alleged riotous rally that led to a breakdown of law and order in the state.

The Attorney-General and Commissioner of Justice, Gboyega Oyewole, on behalf of the state government, had lodged a complaint with the SSS condemning the action of Dr. Fayemi and his supporters who accompanied him after the tribunal ruled in his favour against Governor Segun Oni on Monday from the High Court to his office in Ajilosun Street in Ado-Ekiti amidst jubilation.
The Attorney -General alleged in the petition that Fayemi organised an "illegal and riotous rally with a view to causing violence and a breakdown of law and order" at the court premises and within Ado-Ekiti.

In his letter, Fayemi stipulated that he was not a violent person, as such did not conduct himself in a way that could be related to riotous act either before or since the tribunal started sitting in the state.

Fayemi added that in spite of the constant provocations, part of which is the destruction of his campaign billboards, his followers, the standarbearer noted, had been cautioned by law enforcement agents for violent behaviour, adding that his supporters had always eschewed violence and all forms of illegal acts .
He agreed that he was at the tribunal on August 6 to witness the proceedings, just as his supporters also came in their thousands .

He said the Attorney-General's allegation that he conducted a riotous rally in presence of several anti-riot policemen which caused a huge stampede in the areas was a "blatant falsehood."
The standardbearer further said that it was a strategy employed by PDP to subvert the rule of law and a ploy to accuse political opponents is meant to divert public attention from the government's alleged machinations.

Furthermore, he alerted the SSS that certain amount of money ranging from N250,000 to # 1 million have been allegedly released to key elements of cult movement in UNAD which clashed with policemen on August 7 adding that a list of top leaders in AC have been compiled across the state to be attacked by a terror squad code-named "Strikers".

He also alleged that a group coordinated by a kinsman of the governor and a Government House security official masterminded the massive destruction of his billboards in several parts of the state who he said were yet to be brought to book by security agencies in the state.

"We are aware of a major plan to engineer a crisis in the state including a plan to set INEC headquarters ablaze as a means of stopping the implementation of the tribunal's order to utilise forensic analysis for the inspection of INEC documents,
"We are also aware of the plan to use the military men still present in Government House as part of the plan to harass, intimidate and silence the popular will of the people of Ekiti State particularly innocent citizens attending the tribunal's proceedings," Fayemi said.

Some of the latest happenings in the state, he went further, pointed to an alleged complicity on the part of the state government in the sense that majority of the meetings where the plots were hatched were allegedly held at the Government House under the direct supervision of the said aide to the governor.

He appealed to the SSS to undertake a thorough investigation in all the claims contained in his response to the allegations against him and his party by the PDP-led administration.

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