A group known as the Civil Society Network Against Corruption, CSNAC, has petitioned the acting Inspector General of Police, IGP, Ibrahim Idris, to interrogate the Special Assistant on Public Communication and New Media to the Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose, Lere Olayinka, over the role of the governor in the alleged political killings in the state between 2003 and 2004.
The petition signed by the group’s National Chairman, Olanrewaju Suraju, said Lere should be questioned over an article he allegedly wrote in 2004 which implicated Fayose of political killings.
CSNAC alleged that the article said, “Fayose supervised the killing of one Tunde Omojola, an in-law to Hon. Labaika Suleiman, the National Conscience Party (NCP) candidate in the 2015 election”.
Quoting the article, the group said Lere narrated how Fayose waged war against his “perceived political opponents” in the state.
The petition reads in part, “In an article published in Sahara Reporters, an online newspaper on 19th July, 2016, the writer Lere Olayinka narrated how the Ekiti State Governor, Mr. Ayodele Fayose waged war against his perceived political opponents in Ekiti State which led to the murder of some individuals in cold blood while others sustained injuries.”
“In Fayose’s days as governor, there was nothing like free and fair election in his electoral dictionary. Elections to him must be won by whatever means possible and that he demonstrated during the 2004 local government elections in the State, May 28, 2005 councilorship bye-election in Ifaki-Ekiti, Ekiti South Federal Constituency II bye-election among others.
“Thereafter, Mr Fayose in company of soldiers and mobile policemen disrupted the elections. Electoral officials who attempted to protect the ballot boxes were either beaten or shot in the legs.
“Furthermore, during the Ifaki Ward II councilorship bye-election, when Mr. Fayose sensed that his preferred candidate was losing the election, he stormed the town with thugs and mobile policemen and in a twinkling of an eye, Tunde Omojola, an in-law to Hon. Labaika Suleiman, the National Conscience Party (NCP) candidate in the election had been killed. His murder was allegedly supervised by Fayose.
“Not done with the Ifaki escapade, Fayose moved to Mugbagba, Ado-Ekiti where the Alliance for Democracy (AD) was inaugurating its Ado Local Government Executives. Fayose was personally involved in the smashing of vehicle windscreens and stealing of property, including raw cash kept in the vehicles.
The group also listed other victims of Fayose’s electoral violence to include “Dr. Ayo Daramola, nine students of the College of Education, Ikere-Ekiti killed during a mere protest, the likes of Aseweje, Ben Ogundana, Dapo Osunniyi, Kamoru Folorunso, Ojo Sunday and several others were visited with terror during the 2004 local council polls in Ilawe, Ogotun and Igbara-Odo.”
Pointing to the fact that Lere has not denied the alleged article, CSNAC, therefore called on the “Police Force to order that these murder cases are reopened, properly investigated, with Mr. Lere Olayinka assisting with information and the culprits punished adequately.
“CSNAC is, therefore, by this petition demanding that the Police invite Mr. Lershed more light into these alleged murders thereby aiding the police to conduct a thorough investigation. It is important that the perpetrators of these dastardly acts are brought to justice and quickly too. This will help in driving home the point that electoral violence has no place in our democracy,” the group added.
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