Pro-Fayose Protests Rock Ekiti

Ekiti State was on the boil again yesterday. This time, soldiers, policemen, lawmakers and party thugs were in the thick of the conflagration.
The unrest claimed a life.
The cause was a coordinated protest during which major roads leading to Ado Ekiti were blocked to prevent 19 All Progressive Congress (APC) lawmakers from entering Ado Ekiti to carry through the impeachment process against the state governor, Ayodele Fayose. In fact a man got killed as police and supporters of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) clashed in Efon-Alaye.
The victim, identified as Modupe Olaiya, was said to have been hit by a bullet during a gun duel between party thugs and policeman battling to dismantle the road blocks that paralysed commercial activities in Ado Ekiti and major border towns. The APC lawmakers had on Friday served impeachment notice on Fayose alleging gross misconduct.
Fayose’s supporters had thronged and blocked major roads as early as 6am with bonfires and lorries to prevent the APC lawmakers coming from Osogbo, Osun State to enter the town. Efforts by the APC lawmakers to hold a sitting was aborted as soldiers stationed at Ita Ore were said to have prevented their convoy from entering the state.
A hilux van marked AA 363 YEK , conveying gun-wielding thugs to the Assembly had collided with a police patrol van at Secretariat Road in Ado Ekiti, where three people were said to have been arrested among the goons. Apart from Ado Ekiti, pro-Fayose protests were also held in major towns like Efon Alaaye, Iworoko, Aisegba, Ikere, Ise, Ogotun Igbemo, obstructing human and vehicular movements for several hours.
Some Senior Secondary School 3 students, currently sitting for the West African School Certificate Ex-minations (WASCE) outside the capital city could not get vehicles to convey them at the park, as party thugs scared them off to go back home.
Civil Servants and traders, who had reported to their places of work fled back home, while commercial motorcyclists had a bad day due to the barricades placed on the roads.
To prevent the protest from spreading to the whole state, the Police Commissioner, Mr Taiwo Lakanu, deployed Armoured Personnel Carriers (APC) to all the affected towns and trouble spots, while the House of Assembly complex was sealed off by heavily armed policemen.
The Head of Service, Dr Gbenga Faseluka and organised labour under the leaderships of Trade Union Congress (TUC) and Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), had also besieged the Assembly in protest and warned the APC lawmakers against plunging the state into chaos.
The organised labour in a statement signed by NLC Secretary, Comrade Ade Obatoye, TUC Secretary, Comrade Joseph Adebayo and JNC Secretary, Comrade Oladele Ayodeji , enjoined the entire workforce to see the present development as a way of fomenting trouble in the state and putting their lives at risk.
Also, the people of Igbemo Ekiti , led by Chief Agamago Adetunji, had, during a solidarity visit to the governor declared support for him: “We are solidly behind you. Ekiti people elected you to be their leader and no power under the earth can remove you.
“We are praying for you and assuring you that you will win all the 26 Assembly seats during Saturday’s polls.”
The Deputy Governor, Dr Kolapo Olusola, who responded on behalf of the governor likened the situation to the Biblical war between the Egypt and the people of Israel, expressing confidence that Governor Fayose would triumph.
“This Egyptian war led by APC will be defeated. Governor Fayose did not elect himself, but you put him there. This is just a passage and it will go by the grace of God. I want to assure you that we will see no more of this war against an anointed man in few days time,” the deputy governor boasted.