A student and National Vice-President, External, of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), Oluwatosin Ogunkuade, is in the middle of the political storm in Ekiti state. Governor Fayose says he was arrested a thug with arms but the APC thinks it’s a political clampdown.
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 Osun Defender report, 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.
