BY ABIODUN NEJO, Ado Ekiti
The police in Ekiti State said on Saturday that they have arrested the politician who brought the policeman that fired the shot at the rally organized by All Progressives Congress (APC) for Dr Kayode Fayemi on Friday.
Former House of Representatives member, Hon Opeyemi Bamidele, and five others, who were shot at the APC State Secretariat, Ado Ekiti, during a welcome rally organized for Fayemi, are said to be recuperating at the undisclosed hospitals where they are receiving medical attention.
Police Public Relations Officer for Ekiti State Command, Caleb Ikechukwu, said in a statement that the policeman accidentally shot Bamidele and five others at the rally.
The police spokesman, who refused to mention the name of the politician in their custody, however, claimed that only two persons were shot contrary to the APC’s position that six victims were involved.
The PPRO said: “The policeman is attached to 20 PMF, Ikeja, Lagos
State, where he was posted on bank guard duties somewhere in Ikeja.
The policeman came on illegal duty to Ekiti State.
“A politician, who conspired and removed the said policeman from where he was posted by his squadron Commander and came to Ado-Ekiti with him for an unofficial reasons, has also been arrested”.
But the APC in the state on Saturday, who said the gunshot incident was an assassination attempt on Fayemi, called on the police authorities to thoroughly investigate the matter with a view to bringing the culprit(s) to book and ensuring security of lives.
APC State Chairman, Chief Jide Awe, alleged that the police were complicit in many ways, including allowing a police from another state to provide security at the campaign rally.
Awe also blamed the police for granting Governor Ayodele Fayose
permission to hold a separate rally with commercial motorcyclists
after permitting APC to hold its rally that day, describing this as capable of igniting crisis in the state.
To ensure security, he said APC had shifted commencement of its campaign until the security agencies were able to guarantee their safety as they proceed to the July 14 election.
Awe stated that the party was not convinced by the claim of the
police that it was a case of accidental discharge.
He said: “We raise serious doubt over police investigation claiming
that it was a case of accidental discharge. We are still maintaining our stand that it was an assassination plot on our candidate, because the shooting came from a close range to where Dr. Fayemi was.
“The police must get to the root of where this emanated from. Lives
are involved and our people were hit, so we can’t fold our arms and
be watching.
“That is why we are suspending our rallies pending the time the police is able to convince us that they are going to be strict with permissions for campaigns. We don’t want PDP to hide under any clash campaign to unleash terror on our people”, he said.
On the party’s claim that the state government was also complicit,
Awe said: “We have not indicted the government, but the manner at which Governor Fayose conducted himself gave room for suspicion.
The APC chairman, however, said all the victims of the gunshots were responding to treatment in the different hospitals, saying: “No life was lost. About six persons including Hon. Bamidele were involved. They are recuperating as the medical teams have done necessary things. I have visited them”.
Meanwhile, a statement from Bamidele’s Special Assistant on Media, Ahmed Salami, has dispelled the insinuation that the former lawmaker had been in coma since Friday evening when he was hit by bullets at the rally organized for Dr. Kayode Fayemi, by the party.
Bamidele and others were hit by bullets and sustained various degrees of injuries through gunshots fired by a policeman drafted to maintain orderliness in the rally attended by mammoth crowd of party adherents and admirers of the governorship candidate of the party.
Salami said that though Bamidele immediately fell and passed out due to the trauma he suffered when the bullets suddenly pierced his abdominal region and leg, he has since regained consciousness.
“The way he fell in the full glare of the crowd and party supporters fuelled the insinuation that he is still in coma.
“Let me assure our supporters in Ekiti and other concerned Nigerians that Bamidele is not in coma. He has regained consciousness and fast recuperating due to prompt and intensive medical treatments he received thereafter.
“It is true that Bamidele had passed through surgeries and the bullets have been removed from his abdominal region and leg. We implore our supporters to be calm and be law abiding whilst the situation is under control.
“We appreciate our people for the outpouring of affections since the incident occurred and this underscored the strong bond of unity among the APC members and Ekiti people in general.
“We charge the police authorities to investigate the immediate and remote causes of the shooting and bring whoever that was complicit to justice for a country that has respect for the sanctity of human lives to be attainable.
“We specially appreciate the governor of Ondo State, Barrister Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, Otunba Niyi Adebayo, Dr. Kayode Fayemi and his wife, Erelu Bisi Fayemi, Prince Dayo Adeyeye, Senator Ayo Arise and other party bigwigs for their quick responses in saving Bamidele’s life and that of other victims,” the media aide concluded.
