by Emma Chidogo and Kolapo Olapoju

Update: 1230 hours – reports just reaching the YNaija newsroom say that the Ekiti state governor, Kayode Fayemi has declared a curfew in the state. More details below.

A fracas has broken out in Ekiti state after a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ekiti, Chief Omolafe Aderiye, was shot dead by unknown gunmen last night.

The late Aderiye had accompanied Fayose to the High Court complex in Ado-Ekiti  when the governor-elect attended the sitting of the Governorship Election Petition Tribunal. His supporters beat up a judge in the process.

As soon as news of his death got to the inhabitants of the state, supporters of the deceased, who was a former state Chairman of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), took to the streets causing mayhem and vandalising properties.

When contacted, the state police spokesman, Victor Babayemi, gave no comment on the issue.

In a related development, the campaign office of incumbent governor, Kayode Fayemi, is currently ablaze.

The exact cause of the fire remains to be ascertained, although speculation is rife that it may be a retaliation by Fayose’s supporters, following the shooting of Aderiye.

Fayemi declares curfew

Reacting to the violence witnessed in the state in the last couple of days, Ekiti state governor, Kayode Fayemi, has declared a 7:00pm to 7:00am curfew in the state.

On Friday, 26 September, thugs and hoodlums took to the streets of Ado-Ekiti, and began burning houses and looting properties, after the assasination of a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ekiti, Chief Omolafe Aderiye, on the night of Thursday, 25 September.

Aderiye, who was on his way home after a meeting with Ayo Fayose, was reportedly attacked by four unknown gunmen at the Ijigbo area of Ado-Ekiti the state capital, and shot at close range.

The state has witnessed series of violence all week, as a result of the Ekiti governorship election tribunal. On Monday, 22 September, a court was attacked and the Judge, O. Ogunyemi barely escaped and was ferried to safety by police after he was threatened.

As the tribunal panel, headed by Justice Mohammed Suraju, resumed the first inaugural sitting on Thursday, 25 September, supporters of governor-elect, Ayo Fayose, beat up Justice John Adeyeye for being allegedly rude to Fayose.

Justice Adeyeye, who presides over High Court 3, was apprantly unhappy at the large number of people who thronged the premises of the court, and asked Mr. Fayose to move his supporters to a “safe distance from the court premises”.

Enraged by this request, Fayose allegedly shouted at the judge, slapped him and ordered his men to beat him up. The thugs complied immediately, and in the process of following the order, tore the Judge’s clothes. They were subsequently dispersed by the police who used tear gas.

Subsequently, The Ekiti state Chief Judge, Ayodeji Daramola, has ordered the immediate closure of all state courts, until adequate security measures for the protection of the judiciary are in place.

The tribunal has since been adjourned to 14 October.