Uproar in Ekiti over killing of Bamidele’s supporter

                                                         Mr Opeyemi Bamidele

THERE was uproar in Ekiti State on Monday over the killing of a supporter of a member of the House of Representatives and governorship aspirant, Opeyemi Bamidele.

The victim, one Mr. Foluso Ogundare of Emure Ekiti, died from gunshots received in the attack on members of Bamidele’s support group, Ekiti Bibiire Coalition, during a meeting at Ward 3 in Emure, in the Emure Local Government Area of the state.

Ogundare died late on Sunday at the Federal Medical Centre, Ido Ekiti, where he was rushed after suspected political thugs attacked the EBC members.

Another victim, Mrs. Beatrice Ige, was on Monday receiving treatment at the state university teaching hospital in Ado Ekiti, our correspondent reports.

The Police Public Relations Officer, Ekiti State Command, Victor Babayemi (ASP), on Monday confirmed the attack and said the police had commenced investigation into the matter.

“We found out that the attack happened during a village meeting at Emure on Sunday. But, I can’t confirm to you that it was a fight between groups within a political party or not. We are on the trail of the suspected killers,” Babayemi told our correspondent.

A statement by Bamidele’s spokesman, Ahmed Salami read, “Two members of Ekiti Bibire Coalition were shot during an attack on members of the group in Emure Ekiti by some desperate elements and political appointees in broad day light.

“In the process, two members of the group were shot at close range and in various parts of their bodies. Specifically, Foluso Ogundare was shot in the stomach and later died at about 10.25pm on Sunday night at Federal Medical Centre, Ido Ekiti while Mrs. Beatrice Ige was shot in the buttock.

“We must place on record that this is one murder too many and it is suggestive of a high level of political desperation, intolerance and impunity.

“As stakeholders, we recall that during the struggle for the actualisation of his mandate, Governor Fayemi said, ‘no blood of an Ekiti man is worth shedding.’

“He equally emphasised that he was not desperate to rule Ekiti. But with the current scenario characterising the politics of the state, one is constrained to believe the assertion in many quarters that all these were mere rhetoric”.

Both Bamidele and Fayemi belong to the All Progressives Congress.

But the APC in a statement also on Monday condemned the attack and accused members of the EBC of turning into bullies.

The statement by the party’s Director of Publicity and Media, Segun Dipe, said, “The APC viewed the act as one of the bloodletting exercises, which the Michael Opeyemi Bamidele-led Bibiire Group has embarked on.”

The statement, which defended the Fayemi administration, further read, “Some miscreants hiding under the name of Bibiire Group have turned themselves into bullies while jostling for relevance. In the particular occurrence at Emure Ekiti, two MOB factions were allegedly locked in supremacy contest.

“One was led by one Supo Fakunle, a.k.a Olugeri; and the other led by Paul Awopetu, a.k.a Doki. They were allegedly fighting for the loot coming from MOB and his sponsors to whichever group emerged as superior.”

Reacting to the incident, a governorship aspirant of the Peoples Democratic Party in Ekiti, Prince Dayo Adeyeye, said the situation in the state had become worrisome and warned of imminent anarchy.

Adeyeye, a former spokesman of the pan-Yoruba group, Afenifere, in a statement said, “There is a possibility of anarchy in Ekiti State if the police and other security agencies in the state fail to bring perpetrators of the killings to justice.

“The State Governor, Kayode Fayemi; his party, the All Progressives Congress; and most importantly, the State Police Command must be blamed for the latest killing.

“Therefore, if the police and other security agencies in the country do not want anarchy in Ekiti State, those who murdered Foluso Ogundare in Emure-Ekiti must be arrested, prosecuted and punished.”