The Ekiti State chapter of All Progressives Congress, APC, has challenged Governor Ayodele Fayose to explain to Nigerians why he imported men in Army uniform, suspected to be thugs, into his country home in Afao-Ekiti on Tuesday night.
The opposition party, which said the governor’s action might be in furtherance of his insistence that soldiers must be deployed to rig the forthcoming general elections, also challenged him to explain the roles of the young men in Ekiti State.
A statement by the state Publicity Secretary of APC, Taiwo Olatubosun, on Wednesday, said Nigerians ought to know the reason behind the stealthy importation of these young men to Afao-Ekiti at night.
Olatubosun recalled that the party had earlier raised the alarm over the sewing of fake military uniforms for thugs to impersonate security personnel to enable them to rig elections.
He said the governor’s alleged rigging plan had manifested in some Oodua Peoples Congress members in military uniforms, operating as task force officials that had been terrorizing the opposition in recent times.
Olatubosun said, “Last night’s importation of young men in six 18-seater buses to Afao-Ekiti home of the governor is a clear confirmation of our fear that Fayose means business as he has been boasting around that the presidential election will be a do-or-die affair.
“We were monitoring these young men from Ibadan yesterday evening. They were brought in a luxury bus parked under the bridge at Iwo Road, Ibadan, where the men in charge were looking for smaller buses to convey these young men to Ekiti. The conditions for their hiring included that they must know Ekiti State terrain and Afao-Ekiti in particular.
“The six buses left Ibadan late in the evening and arrived Afao-Ekiti at exactly 9.15pm and the men disembarked in front of the governor’s house. What gave them away was the discovery of Army uniforms in their bags when they opened their bags to buy hot drinks and akara from road hawkers inside the bumps at Ikire”.
In a counter-reaction, Fayose said the party was only raising an unnecessary alarm because there were no soldiers being kept at Afao as the party alleged.
The governor’s reaction was contained in a terse statement issued by his Chief Press Secretary, Idowu Adelusi.
“Election has not come; we have about 34 days to the election. What will that number of soldiers be doing in Ekiti when we are not in election period?
“Beside that, only Mr President can deploy military to provide security during election. I think the APC is already throwing in the towel for an election that has not taken place. Rather than raising unnecessary alarm, the Ekiti APC should think of a way of helping General Buhari to overcome his credibility crisis, which is more fundamental.
“It is not unlikely that the APC is planning to import fake soldiers to Ekiti for the election because it has the habit of accusing PDP of what it has planned to execute”, Fayose said.
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