4 Arrested For Killing Opeyemi' Bamidele's Supporter

Four persons are said to have been arrested by the police in Ekiti State for their alleged involvement in the killing of Mr Foluso Ogundare in Emure-Ekiti on Sunday.

Sources told newsmen in Ado Ekiti on Wedenesday that three of the suspects would be moved to Abuja by the police command on Thursday (today) while the fourth person was said to be under further investigation.

Ogundare was shot dead on Sunday while attending a meeting of Ekiti Bibiire Coalition, the political group of the member representing Ekiti Central Federal Constituency II in the House of Representatives, Mr Michael Opeyemi Bamidele.

Another member of the group, Mrs Beatrice Ige, was also shot in the hind quarters at the gathering and she is currently receiving treatment in the hospital.

Among the four persons said to have been arrested by the police is a member of the Ekiti State House of Assembly and two others, while it was gathered that the police is still investigating the level of culpability of the fourth person connected to the alleged crime.

Reacting to the development, the Public Relations Officer of Ekiti State police command, Mr Victor Babayemi, said he could only confirm that the police in the state had made progress in the matter and that three persons arrested in connection with the case would be moved to the Force Headquarters in Abuja for further investigations today (Thursday).

Babayemi told newsmen in Ado Ekiti that the names of the arrested suspects were still being kept secret by his command, pointing out that disclosing their names could jeopardise the investigation and the efforts of the police.

Reacting to allegations that the state police command had become partisan in the build-up to the 2014 governorship election, Babayemi, denied the allegation, saying the police in the state had not been partisan.

Meanwhile, the chairman of PDP in Ekiti State, Mr Makanjuola Ogundipe, has condemned the killing of Ogundare by yet to be identified political thugs, saying “the killing of another promising Ekiti son is barbaric and wickedness of the highest order.”

Ogundipe, in a statement he made available to newsmen in Ado Ekiti on Wednesday said “the latest killing in the state is another acid test for the Commissioner of Police in the state, Mr Sotonye Wakama.”

In the statement signed on his behalf by Mr Femi Omolusi, Ogundipe said the challenge posed by the killing of Ogundare on Sunday during a meeting of Ekiti Bibiire Coalition, was “yet another challenge for the Ekiti State police command and other security agencies in the state to fish out the killers of Ogundare and others.”

He alleged that “a killer squad exists in the state considering the number of politically-motivated killings in the state in recent times,” saying “this is indeed a time for the police and other law enforcement agencies to prove that the fears expressed by the people of Ekiti State is misplaced.”

In a related development, a group in Ekiti State, the Save Ekiti Coalition (SEC) has warned of an impending anarchy in the state, calling on President Goodluck Jonathan to intervene before the people are “pushed to such a state that they will begin to defend themselves against thugs and the result of this is better imagined than experienced.”

Addressing journalists in Ado-Ekiti today, Convener of the SEC, Mr Lere Olayinka, blamed the state police command for the persisting political violence in the state, saying; “if the police and other security agents had been alive to their responsibilities, by making sure that all the knowned perpetrators of previous political violence in the state were punished in accordance with the law, those who openly invaded the meeting of Ekiti Bibiire Coalition in Emure-Ekiti on Sunday, carrying guns and other dangerous weapons and killing Ogundare, would not have had the effrontery to do so.”

Flanked by the Protem Secretary of the Coalition, Mr Oke Adekunle and Publicity Secretary, Bola Agboola, Olayinka said the group’s fear was further “heightened by the fact that activities towards the 2014 governorship election will soon peak and it appears that Ekiti State is in for another round of blood-letting.”

The coalition pleaded with President Jonathan to come to the aid of Ekiti people by directing the police to make sure that those who killed Foluso Ogundare and others are arrested, prosecuted and punished, irrespective of their position in government.

“Also, meetings of opposition parties, especially the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and that of members of the  APC perceived to be opposed to the second term ambition of Governor Fayemi are being disrupted while billboards are being destroyed. As at today, a PDP governorship aspirant, Prince Dayo Adeyeye, is in court, demanding N100 million compensation from the government for the destruction of his campaign billboards by the State Signage Agency. And not-minding this, the new billboards that he erected a few weeks ago have been vandalised.