BY Gbenga Ariyibi
Labour Party’s Governorship Candidate, Mr Opeyemi Bamidele has accused the All Progressives Change, APC in Ekiti State of planning to use political thugs from neighbouring states to cause mayhem during next Saturday’s election.
Bamidele raised the alarm in a statement by his Media Assistant, Ahmed Salami yesterday, where he also alleged that other political parties were aware of desperate position of APC ahead of the election.
Bamidele accused the APC of bringing the thugs from South/West states of Oyo, Ogun, Osun and Lagos to disrupt peaceful conduct of the elections, especially in areas where the ruling party is no longer popular across Ekiti State.
Fayemi, Fayose and Bamidele
The governorship candidate said APC’s ploy included “preventing declaration of his (Bamidele) expected victory by Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC thereby catching on violence as an excuse for INEC to cancel the election results.
Bamidele therefore called on all security agencies currently deployed to Ekiti State to quickly intervene and prevent other electoral frauds being proposed by APC.
He said the people of the state have recognized these thugs in their midst and are now willing to assist the security agencies with useful information about their proposed mode of operation.
The statement said: “It has been brought to our notice that the Ekiti State chapter of APC has again demonstrated another desperate bid to remain in power, using all available means including importation of political thugs to foment trouble during and after the election”.
In addition, he said: “This ongoing importation, we have it on a very good authority is being done by the ruling party with support of their collaborators from some South/West states where they have political control. Ekiti people have recognized the sudden appearance of these thugs who have been arriving the state in droves in the last three days.”
He further alleged that “their aim is to cause confusion and mayhem and force INEC to cancel election results especially where they are not popular. This is another attempt aimed at preventing me from being declared a winner in this race, having been favored as the best candidate among the rest. ”
APC plans to invade Ekiti — PDP alleges
On its part, the Ekiti State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has raised the alarm that the ruling All Progressive Congress-led government has allegedly imported thugs and militants from the neighboring states of Osun, Oyo, Ogun,Lagos and Delta to rig Saturday’s governorship election in the state.
The PDP said it had it on good record that all the 16 APC controlled state governors are to storm Ekiti State on Saturday with their security operators to intimidate and harass the people of the state.
Speaking at a press conference in Ado Ekiti yesterday, Minister- designate, Prince Dayo Adeyeye, warned the APC governors against interfering in Ekiti election, saying doing so could provoke the people to taking spontaneous reaction that could cause crisis in the state.
Prince Adeyeye said “We warn the APC governors against invading our State. We are not asking the PDP governors to interfere in Ekiti for us and we expect that the APC must do same because coming to Ekiti may provoke very serious reaction from our people”.
Adeyeye said said that the PDP is not comfortable with the body language of the electoral umpire, and the police.
The minister- designate, however, called on the police to act promptly to dislodge the militants, which according to him are being kept in the Government House.
His words: “While the police have been protecting the APC thugs, the INEC too has not been carrying us along. We want to believe that Governor Fayemi has compromised the two bodies.”
“The APC brought all these thugs so that they can be used as fake police and soldiers to rig election. We heard that fake police and soldiers’ uniforms for them to perpetrate the evil act”.
Allegation is revised psychology — Ekiti APC
Reacting, APC’s Director of Media and Publicity, Mr Segun Dipe, dismissed the allegation, saying it actually represents what the PDP is planning.
He, however, described the allegation as “revised psychology” .
Dipe said “We know that Fayose cannot win election without using thugs. We are aware that they have started bringing in thugs in trickles. Fayemi is not known among thugs but among the enlightened people of Ekiti State and human rights community and those people hate thugs. They are trying to draw the attention of security agents away from heir evils”.
“Fayemi will not soil his name because of election . We want to assure you that thugs will not have a place in the election, it is going to be one man, one vote”, Dipe added.
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