Following the return of political violence to Ekiti State wherein innocent persons were allegedly attacked at various locations in the state, Governor Ayodele Fayose has disowned those he referred to as “unscrupulous people” who carry out the attacks in his name.
In a statement yesterday by his Special Assistant on Public Communications and New Media, Lere Olayinka, Fayose urged law enforcement agents to arrest anybody caught assaulting law-abiding residents dropping his name in the process.
The statement read in part, “The Ekiti State Government wishes to inform the general public that some unscrupulous people now go about attacking innocent residents of the state, claiming that Governor Ayodele Fayose sent them.
“Yesterday, Friday, July 31, one Prince Bunmi Ademolaju was attacked at a popular hotel in Ado-Ekiti. Those who attacked him were said to have shouted that they were Governor Fayose’s boys.
“We have it on good authority that the plot of these unscrupulous elements is to go about attacking notable indigenes of Ekiti State and claiming that they were sent by Governor Fayose”.
The government, while distancing itself from the reported attacks, said the trend might not be unconnected with another plot to discredit Fayose by those who had lost every war they waged against him.
“By announcing that they were Governor Fayose’s boys, the motive of the criminals has no doubt been exposed, and it cannot be anything other than to set the people against the governor.
“We therefore wish to state categorically that Governor Fayose does not harbour criminals. He does not have boys anywhere, not to talk of sending them to attack innocent residents of Ekiti State.
“Anyone caught attacking or assaulting residents of Ekiti State in the name of ‘Governor Fayose’s Boys’ should be apprehended and handed over to law enforcement agents for appropriate action.
“Once again, we state that Governor Fayose does not habour criminals under whatever guise.
“Ekiti people and the law enforcement agents should take note of this new trend of criminality obviously coming from those whose only interest is to make Ekiti State impossible just because they lost power”, the statement added.
