Posted by By BOLU-OLU ESHO, Ado-Ekiti on
Two of the witnesses in the murder charge leveled against ex-governor Ayo Fayose of Ekiti State, Musilimu Fadahunsi and Oluyemi Oke, who were released after spending two days in police custody in the state capital, Ado-Ekiti had revealed that their arrest was informed by the allegation that they collected large sums of money as bribe from the ex-governor to recant their earlier evidence in which Fayose was implicated.
Two of the witnesses in the murder charge leveled against ex-governor Ayo Fayose of Ekiti State, Musilimu Fadahunsi and Oluyemi Oke, who were released after spending two days in police custody in the state capital, Ado-Ekiti had revealed that their arrest was informed by the allegation that they collected large sums of money as bribe from the ex-governor to recant their earlier evidence in which Fayose was implicated.
Fadahunsi and Oke, who were polling agents for Alliance for Democracy (AD) allegedly witnessed the violence that erupted in Ifaki-Ekiti on May 28, 2005.
Referring to the latest police report on the murder charge which absolved ex-governor Fayose of complicity, they said they were vindicated going by their stand that Fayose was innocent of the murder charge , saying that his political enemies wanted to use the case to 'finish him politically."
On Wednesday, Fadahunsi was swooped upon in his Ilogbe Quarters residence in Ifaki and taken to Olufaki of Ifaki palace, where he was queried on some advertorials in the national dailies in which their ealier evidence, which implicated ex-governor Fayose, was recanted.
Fadahunsi disclosed that he was interrogated alongside Sunday Adebisi and Olu Apasco, at the monarch's palace where he was released but was subsequently arrested by the police and transferred to Ado-Ekiti.
He, however, alleged that they were arrested in order to corroborate the allegation that Fayose had a hand in the killing of Omojola, maintaining that what they said recently was done to put the record straight, even as he denied being sponsored by ex-governor Fayose as alleged by the state government. Rather, he alleged that one Akeem Ogunleye, another witness who recently recanted his evidence that Fayose was innocent of Omojola's killing, did so under duress after he was allegedly harassed and tortured.
In his account, Fadahunsi said: 'The reason we're being persecuted is to implicate Fayose that he knew about the killing of Omojola; and we never collected any money from Fayose. Fayose is not sponsoring us because I was never a PDP member and have never benefited from Fayose.
'We were detained on April 3 at Ifaki Police Station before we were transferred to Ido Police Station at 12 noon, myself and Olu, but Sunday Adebisi was asked to report back to the station at 8.00 am the following day.
'Since then, my life has been under threat to the extent that we were arrested by the powers that be and were detained on April 3, initially at Ifaki Police Station before we were transferred to Ido Police Station so that we can say that Omojola was murdered by Fayose, Okondo and S.K. Dada.
'Myself and Olu were detained but Sunday Adebisi was asked to return at the following day and by the time Sunday returned, he brought a document to the DPO, which was a copy of the affidavit he had recanted, singing a new tune that Fayose actually participated in the murder of Omojola.
'We were detained at the Police Station and we were ordered to be brought to Ado to recant our statement now to say again that Fayose had a hand in he killing of Omojola, which was contrary to the earlier affidavit we deposed to in order to implicate the former governor.
'They ordered that we be brought to the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS)."
They alleged that they had invited us to come to the PDP but we refused and that we were going to the tribunal to testify against their party.
'We were detained for two days before we were released on the orders of the Inspector-General of Police who was duly informed of our plight and I also want to raise this alarm that they have been looking for ways to kill us. Our lives are now under threat and if I am killed today, the Ekiti State government must be held responsible."