THE Ekiti State government has raised the alarm over a planned invasion of the state by men of the Nigeria Police headquarters in Abuja, ostensibly to arrest some of its officials and leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state.
The government, in a statement on Sunday, alleged that 20 policemen had already arrived in the state to begin an alleged “indiscriminate arrest of top officials of the government, leaders of the PDP as well as members of the state House of Assembly today (Monday).”
The government said in a statement by the Special Assistant to Governor Ayodele Fayose on Public Communications and New Media, Lere Olayinka, the alleged planned arrests were “in connection with petitions allegedly orchestrated by the All Progressives Congress (APC) over governorship election that the party lost on June 21, 2014.”
The government alleged that some APC leaders, including a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, a former senator and others were “coordinating the invasion in their desperation to destabilise the state because of Governor Ayodele Fayose’s perceived opposition to the inhuman policies of the Federal Government.”
The statement read in part: “We have been reliably informed that the latest onslaught against the PDP government of Mr Ayodele Fayose is to begin on Monday (today), using the police to arrest top government officials, PDP leaders across the 16 local government areas and members of the House of Assembly.
“The ACP, who is to lead the over 20 policemen to carry out the operation is said to be a native of Isan Ekiti, hometown of the Minister of Solid Minerals, Dr Kayode Fayemi.
“The ACP will be accompanied by two CSPs, four Inspectors and others.”
The government said it would “resist all alleged attempts by the APC to return to power through the backdoor,” adding that “the party should rather prepare for 2018 instead of running from the Army to the DSS to EFCC and now to the police.”
It also cautioned the APC-led Federal Government “not to destroy democracy in the country, by muscling opposition,” and alerted the international community to take note of the danger facing democracy in the country.
However, in a reaction to the claim, the Public Relations Officer of the Ekiti police command, Mr Alberto Adeyemi, described the allegation as false and “absurd.”
Adeyemi said he was not aware of such plans since the command had not received such signal from the IGP.
“I am not aware of that. We are about 5,000 policemen in the command and for 20 policemen to come and invade Ekiti, I regard that as too absurd. We have nothing of such either from the Inspector-General or the Commissioner of Police. All we know is that we are on ground and doing our work as required by law,” he said.
Some APC chieftains in Ekiti State had reportedly written about 102 petitions to the new Inspector General of Police, Mr Ibrahim Idris, alleging manipulation of the June 2014 governorship election in the state and certificate forgery against some members of the state House of Assembly.
