APC, Fayose disagree over ‘stop and search’ order

                             

The 19 All Progressives Congress lawmakers in Ekiti State have alleged that the ‘Stop and Search’ order of Governor Ayodele Fayose over the cases of kidnapping in the state was a plot‎ to track them for kidnap to stall his impeachment.

The lawmakers in a statement by Speaker Adewale Omirin’s Special Adviser on Media, Wole Olujobi, said they had uncovered an alleged plot by the governor to ‎engage the  Government House security men on major roads in the state to conduct ‘stop and search’ operations in a frantic search to track them for kidnap.

The lawmakers condemned such operation as “unwarranted assault,” particularly as the cars targeted in the operation would be mainly dark grey  Toyota Camry cars, which is the brand and colour of their official cars.

But Ekiti State Government has described the allegations by the APC lawmakers as “evil, wicked and insensitive,” saying it was a clear exposure of the culpability of the party in the kidnapping of residents of Ekiti State.

The lawmakers said, “We are in possession of a report that the governor is exploiting cases of kidnap in the state to break the nation-wide ban on roadblock ordered by the Inspector General of Police to raise some teams of security men working in the Government House to be on our trail to take us out of circulation.

“As we speak, the security men and thugs are in possession of our photographs to identify us after stopping us. They have been told to specifically be on the look-out for dark grey Toyota Camry cars, which are our official cars, to identify us for kidnap to stall his impeachment.

“Part of the instruction is that all vehicles with tinted ‎glasses must be stopped for identification. All our cars are tinted and so that will create the excuse for stopping our cars just to hit their targets.

The lawmakers urged leaders to caution the governor while also urging the Inspector General of Police, Solomon Arase, to put his men on the alert to stop the activities of criminal gangs bent of frustrating his ‘no roadblock’ order across the country.

But Fayose in a statement by his Special Assistant on Public Communications and New Media, Lere Olayinka, said he would do everything humanly possible to protect lives and properties of Ekiti people.

According to him, what is expected from genuine lovers of the State is to cooperate with security agencies, and not politicisation of every efforts of the government by the APC.

Explaining that the security measures complained of by the lawmakers were resolutions of the Ekiti State Security Council meeting that took place on Monday, he added that the APC in Ekiti State was living up to its real identity as a congregation of evil minded people,

“Only wicked and evil people, whose agenda is to make Ekiti State ungovernable will kick against these measures that are aimed at securing the lives and properties of the people.

“Most importantly, it is on record that Ekiti State is always made ungovernable whenever the APC elements lose power, and the unfortunate criminal activities that we have witnessed in the last few days cannot but be traceable to the plot by the APC to discredit the government by presenting it as incapable of securing lives and properties in the State.

“From past experiences, organised crimes have become the major tools used by the APC elements to make Ekiti State unsafe whenever they lose power to the PDP.

“It is important to note that all these organised crimes ended the very first day the APC elements regained power in the State,” the statement said.