Governor Ayodele Fayose has been accused of arresting students’ leaders in Ekiti State for supporting the All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Candidate, Muhammadu Buhari.
But the governor’s spokesperson has said the persons arrested are armed APC thugs.
APC accused Fayose of ordering a clampdown on the students after the National Vice-President, External, of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), Tosin Ogunkuade, addressed the crowd at the party's presidential campaign on Saturday.
In an official statement by the APC State Publicity Secretary, Taiwo Olatubosun, published in an , said the governor was irked because Ogunkuade said the present government is not capable of tackling the challenges facing Nigerian students.
“He said to the applause of hundreds of students in attendance that Buhari presented a better hope for students in their educational pursuits,” Olatubosun said.
He said that, barely 24-hours after Ogunkuade spoke at the rally, he and "other students were attacked with deep machete cuts" by thugs at Ikogosi-Ekiti.
The party scribe said the students fled to a police station only to meet further trouble.
“After these students were attacked at Ikogosi, they ran to Efon-Alaye Police Station to report the matter. To our surprise, the police detained them before they were transferred to Aramoko-Ekiti Police Station.
“To our shock again, just this morning, one of their colleagues, Damilare Bewaji, who went to visit them at the Aramoko Police Station, was also arrested and detained by the police on the order of the governor,” he added.
The scribe added that the arrests are one of the many other attacks on APC sympathisers after the rally.
They Are Armed Thugs
In what seems like a rebuttal, Governor Fayose has in a statement by his Special Assistant on Public Communications and New Media, Lere Olayinka, announced that the Ekiti police have arrested four APC thugs.
“The thugs were arrested with guns, axes, cutlasses and other dangerous weapons while trying to escape through Efon-Alaaye at about 3am today," the statement said.
“The thugs were Odebunmi Idowu (from Ilupeju-Ekiti), Aliyu Yusuf (from Ibadan), Oladayo Obikoya (from Ikogosi) and Ogunkuade Oluwatosin (aka Jasper).
“They were arrested in a red-coloured Nissan Sunny with registration number Ekiti AH 176 EFY, and were moved to the Aramoko-Ekiti police station, where they were detained briefly before they were moved to the Police Headquarters, Ado-Ekiti.
Neither the Ekiti Police Command nor the students’ union leaders have issued any official statement since the incident.
It will be recalled that Fayose has published two controversial adverts in leading national newspapers, subtly suggesting that Buhari is frail and may die in office if elected.