by Michael Orodare

I’m still finding it difficult to see any difference between the number of political violence and politically motivated murder in Ekiti under ‘progressive’ Governor Fayemi and the ‘conservative’ past PDP government in the state.

I have tried as much as I could not to comment publicly on the political brouhaha that has enveloped my intellectual neighbours – Ekiti state, but the human nature in me will not just allow me overlook it as just ‘one of those things.’

Reports coming out of Ekiti lately as the state’s governorship election draws nearer, have not been palatable, they are stories that should not emanate from a state which prides itself as a land of honour. The reports have been gory and horrible.

Just in the last 8-months, no fewer than 3 members of groups opposed to the re-election of Governor Kayode Fayemi have been murdered, while many are still on the hospital bed after sustaining varying degrees of injuries from gunshots and machetes as a result of mayhem unleashed on them by political thugs believed to be working under the directives of the ruling party.

Still fresh among the killings from the numerous attacks is the murder of one Foluso Ogundare, a member of the Ekiti Bibire Coalition, the campaign group of a member of the House of Representatives and a governorship aspirant in the state, Michael Opeyemi Bamidele, popularly called MOB.

Reports say the young man was murdered on last Sunday night by a killer squad which allegedly has on its team, a serving member of Ekiti State House of Assembly and an ex-member of the State House of Assembly who is also the Coordinator of John Kayode Fayemi (JKF) for 2nd Term group.

The Ekiti state I know is a land of peace and a home of intellectuals where people tolerate themselves, (I wouldn’t know if I’m wrong with that insinuation), but lately, Ekiti politicians have began to re-write history of goodwill with their politics of intolerance and desperation to remain at the corridor of power, a product of their fear of the unknown, intimidation from rising popularity of members of the opposition. This is perceived to what led to the murder of a PDP gubernatorial aspirant in the state, Dr Ayo Daramola in 2003.

The campaigns for the Ekiti 2014 Governorship election are yet to kick-off, but the mortuaries are already smiling. Need we say, as being speculated in some quarters, that Fayemi is afraid of opposition, especially the growing popularity of MOB in Ekiti state? Hence the disruption of the activities and victimization of members of the latter’s campaign group

Its quite unfortunate that Ekiti, under Fayemi’s watch (the man who prides himself as a crusader for the return to democratic rule from the dark days of the military rule in Nigeria), could dwindle away from being a land of honour to a land of fear, intimidation of political opponents, political intolerance and where daily violence resulting in the murder of political supporters is seen as nothing barbaric.

For the records, just in the year 2013, a former Personal Assistant to Chief Jide Awe, the Ekiti State Chairman of the defunct ACN, Ayo Murphy Jeje, was shot dead in Erijiyan-Ekiti, on March 31, 2013, the eve of the day report said he was to decamp to the opposition PDP, alongside his supporters. The mystery behind his death is still sketchy.

That same night, a 76-year-old woman, Juliana Adewumi was also shot dead in that town.

The freshest among the murders as at the time of writing this piece is Foluso Ogundare, (who knows if another killer squad is currently on rampage?). Ogundare was said to have been shot at close range when some political thugs invaded a meeting of MOB’s campaign group at Emure-Ekiti, while another woman, Beatrice Ige, also a member of the Bibire Coalition, sustained fatal injuries from gun shots and currently receiving treatment at a Federal Medical Centre in the state.

I’m still finding it difficult to see any difference between the number of political violence and politically motivated murder in Ekiti under ‘progressive’ Governor Fayemi and the ‘conservative’ past PDP government in the state.

We are now in the era where electorates don’t seem to be swayed by intimidation, baring all form of violence and intimidation that precedes an election, they will still come out to vote en masse for the candidate of their choice. Even if a section of the media has been compromised and gag to dish out falsehood to deceive innocent readers, the people’s wish would still have its way.

The people have their mandate and they give it to whosoever they want, no matter how you intimidate them.

Stakeholders in Ekiti state, should as a matter of urgency save the dwindling ethos of the state as it thread the path of anarchy in the build up to the 2014 governorship election. There is enough lesson to learn from neighbouring Ondo state, there was no account of murder before, during and after its governorship election last year, despite the greatest height of provocation and campaign of calumny against the incumbent by members of the opposition parties.
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Michael Olanrewaju Orodare has worked in the Office of the Chief Press Secretary to the Ondo State Governor as a Media Assistant. He has garnered experience writing in the The Nation Newspaper working with the paper’s Sunday Desk. He leans towards the Labour Party. He blogs at www.michaelorodare.blogspot.com and tweets from @MichaelOrodare

 

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