The Segun Oni Campaign Organisation (SOCO) has raised the alarm over the alleged planned “importation” of thugs and fake military personnel into Ekiti State by the leadership of the All Progressive Congress (APC).
Chief Segun Oni is the governorship candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in the state gubernatorial election slated for June 18.
The fake military personnel and thugs would be located in some major towns and villages in the state, including Ilupeju, Otun, Ilogbo, Oke Ayedun, Ijero, Okemesi and others, the organisation added.
In a statement made available to journalists in Ado-Ekiti, the state capital, the Director of Media and Publicity of SOCO, Mr. Jackson Adebayo, said a meeting of all the chairmen of local governments, as well as local council development areas in the state was held last week where a message was passed to them that they would receive the fake military men and thugs by this week in preparation for the election.
Adebayo explained further that the council chairmen were equally directed to provide materials that will make the guests comfortable, where they would be are kept.
The statement revealed how a memo was raised in Oye Local Government for the council chairman to contact the Ilupeju Ekiti Development Union for the release of the town’s civic centre for about 30 ‘soldiers’ who are to operate in Oye and its environs, saying that such arrangement was also made in Otun where a landlord on Otun – Omu-Aran Road was contacted to release his building for accomodation of the fake soldiers and thugs.
The statement added that “it is only in Ijero they have been arguing whether to house them in Ara-Ekiti or Ikoro-Ekiti, but the fear of one Kayode Ojo has made them to be rejecting Ikoro-Ekiti as an option”.
According to SOCO, the first assignment given to the council chairmen was to be using the thugs in unleashing mayhem in their various locations, while leaders of the SDP should be their target.
The organisation expressed its disappointment in the government of Ekiti State and the ruling APC in the state “for embarking on this dastardly and unholy strategy in an election that they will lose. It is very sad that the government is just deliberately creating insecurity in an already volatile state.
“We call on our traditional rulers to, as a matter of urgency , call the leaders of the All Progressive Congress in their areas to order before they destroy the peace of their communities in the name of politics.”
SOCO equally called on the Chief of Army Staff to investigate the involvement of some Army personnel who have been allegedly contacted to provide cover for the fake soldiers and thugs.
The statement added: “We want to state emphatically that it is not a rumor that these council chairmen were seen in their areas in the last three days with military men in their vehicles in a move that suggested that they were being shown the nooks and crannies of the communities in their areas for the proposed operations.
“It would be recalled that it was the military that the leadership of APC used to detain one of our leaders at Ayetoro-Ekiti while all the requests and efforts to secure his release has proved abortive since.”
