Confusion in Ekiti over arrest of APC members

There was confusion over the arrest of three members of the All Progressives Congress by the Police on Thursday in Ijero Ekiti where they were allegedly pasting campaign posters.

They are John Monday, Ebenezer Ogunleye and Tunbosun Adeluyi. They were still being held as of the time of filing this report.

But the Ekiti Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. Alberto Adeyemi, said the three were arrested for allegedly tearing campaign posters of an unnamed political party.

He said, “Three persons were arrested for tearing campaign posters of political parties in Ijero Ekiti. They confessed to this during interrogation. Investigation is still ongoing.”

Their arrest caused tension in Ijero as APC members accused the Peoples Democratic Party administration of masterminding the arrest.

Reacting to the development, a member of the House of Representatives, Oyetunde Ojo, condemned what he called government-sponsored crackdown on opposition members by agents of the ruling party.

Ojo, who is seeking re-election to represent Ekiti Central Federal Constituency 2 advised Governor Ayodele Fayose to respect the peace accord signed by all parties ahead of the 2015 polls.

He said, “People don’t learn from history, we have all decided to sign peace accord and I want to advise the governor in his own interest to stop harassing our party members.

“Our party is interested in free and fair election and we are not party to any violence but we won’t tolerate the harassment of our members by agents of the ruling party.

“The more arrests of our party members they make, the more sympathy the APC enjoys in the state. When people that are pasting posters peacefully are arrested, that is unacceptable.

“They sent thugs this morning to cause confusion at the place of our rally. I want to say without any fear of contradiction that let everybody, Party A, Party B, Party C and Party D respect the peace accord we have all signed.

“Some people think they are bigger than the country and there is no way you can be bigger than your country.”

Ojo, said the APC was poised for victory in the forthcoming general elections saying the party is the most acceptable to the electorate in Nigeria on the strength of its policies, programmes and manifesto.

The federal lawmaker said the general elections would provide the best opportunity to sack PDP from power for the first time since 1999.

He described card readers as the best antidote to curb electoral fraud and make the votes of the electorate count.