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The Delta State chapter of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has condemned the assassination attempt on Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State, with a call on Nigerians to hold President Muhammadu Buhari, the All Progressive Congress (APC) national Chairman, Adams Oshiomhole, and all the party’s South West leaders responsible for the breakdown of law and order in that State.

The party in a statement by its State Publicity Secretary, Dr. Ifeanyi Michael Osuoza decried the desperation by the ruling APC in using violence and assassination attempt to opponents in its bid to control states not controlled by APC.

The statement reads: “The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Delta State Chapter, view with grave concern and discomfort, the assassination attempt on Governor Ayodele Fayose this morning (July 11, 2018) and the humiliation he was subjected to by Mobile Policemen sponsored by the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC).

“Monitored reports from reputable news sources and impeccable eye witnesses indicated that Governor Fayose was hit by a canister of tear gas fired at him by policemen, believed to be working for the APC governorship candidate, Dr. Kayode Fayemi. The Governor was subsequently locked up in his office in Government House, Ado-Ekiti and was purportedly assaulted as he peacefully tried to venture out of the government, to attend to some pressing matters of urgent importance to the welfare of his beloved Ekiti indigenes.

“If the Governor and Chief Security Officer of a State can be so treated with disdain and humiliated by forces working for the ruling APC, just because they want to take control of Ekiti State, by not allowing the people of Ekiti State whose right it is to so do by expressing their fundamental rights to peaceful assembly in their own State, then it is time to call to question the ability of the APC Federal Government to conduct a free and fair election in the country and even give Nigerians good governance instead of this brazen dictatorship playing out before our very eyes.

“We condemn in strong terms the acts of desperation by the APC in using violence and assassination attempts to cow opponents of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration. Nigerians cannot forget easily that the new National Chairman of APC, Adams Oshiomhole boasted recently that his party will use its federal might to take control of States not currently ruled by the APC.

“It is now crystal clear that the unfolding development in Ekiti State is evidence of the ruling party’s desperation to fulfill that boastful declaration of Oshiomhole, and achieve the mindset of the entire leadership of APC in the South-West, to win Ekiti as a State for APC at all cost.

“Part of the desperation has already been manifested with the deployment of 30,000 security agents to Ekiti State for the Governorship election on Saturday when there is no war in that State. “We are aghast at the very potent implications of such a massive deployment of security in the State and we are compelled to query the motive behind bringing 30,000 security officials into Ekiti State, when States that need massive security presence like Benue, Plateau, Adamawa, Taraba amongst others, are under the jackboot of AK 47 bearing Fulani herdsmen terrorists.

“It is a desperation with the clear aim of using the police and other security agencies of the Federal Government to intimidate voters, scare them from coming out to vote, and to intimidate polling officials so the APC can perfect its nefarious script of writing the results and hoping to declare its candidate, Kayode Fayemi as the fraudulent winner of the election.

“We demand a level playing field in the Ekiti State governorship election that will hold on Saturday, July 14, 2018. We call on Nigerians to hold President Muhammadu Buhari, Adams Oshiomhole and all the APC leaders in the South-West responsible for any breakdown of law and order in Ekiti State, as a result of this seige they have imposed on the State.

“We insist that President Buhari, now that he is a civilian President and not a military dictator, must adopt a more responsible and democratic approach by calling for the immediate withdrawal of these forces of intimidation, aimed at cowing opponents and rigging the Ekiti Governorship election in favour of his political Party, which has been deployed with the full consent of the Federal might that is under his full control, as the maximum leader and Commander in Chief.

“We strongly advocate that the unfettered opportunity must be provided for the voters of Ekiti State to determine who should be their Governor through a free, fair, credible and transparent election, for anything short of this will not be acceptable.

“We recall with disturbing concern, the serial penchant of the APC to resort to violence as a means of engagement of political opponents in Ekiti State as exemplified in several widely reported cases involving Dr. Kayode Fayemi and his supporters, who have always been the aggressor in this ongoing despicable ritual and orgy of violence in Ekiti State

“The disgraceful scenes of the APC primaries last month, where supporters of opponents of Fayemi accused him of rigging the primary and in the process went on rampage kicking and destroying the ballot boxes containing votes cast by delegates and the attempted murder of one of the opponents of Kayode Fayemi in the APC Governorship primary, Mr. Opeyemi Bamidele, who was shot in the arm, with several persons wounded are very serious and dangerous instances of this violent streak and dimension of Kayode Fayemi and APC in Ekiti State, all of which are new and recent in Ekiti politics, introduced blatantly since the coming into politics of Kayode Fayemi.

“Nigerians, and in particular, the people of Ekiti State can testify that Governor Fayose, despite his very direct, fearless and bold utterances as he bravely speaks truth to this clueless, inept and corruption laden autocracy of the APC Federal government, has always comported himself in a non-violent manner and has not been known to be one that is bloodthirsty, even in the two terms of his Governorship elections, each of which he won convincingly. But not so for Kayode Fayemi whose political engagements have so far been trailed by bloodshed and violence.

“We therefore decry the penchant for violence and shedding of blood by Kayode Fayemi and the APC led by Adams Oshiomhole and we call on President Muhammadu Buhari to call them to order before it is too late.”