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Okada riders, drivers may spill blood to defend Fayose

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The face-off between the executive and legislative arm of Ekiti State government over plans by 19 APC lawmakers to impeach the state governor, Ayodele Fayose and his deputy, Dr Kolapo Olusola’s removal, continues to create tension in the state.

On Monday, members of the Okada Riders Association, the National Union of Road Transport workers (NURTW) and the Road Transport Workers Association of Nigeria (RTWAN) have joined the fray, calling on their members to gather at the House of Assembly to help protect the governor’s mandate with “the last drop of their blood”.

The calls have left other citizens in the state with no choice than to stay out of harm’s way, as many are reported to have closed earlier than usual from their places of livelihood, while many parents also withdrew their kids from schools early, to the comfort of their homes.

The transporters were responding to calls by Fayose on the state-owned television station, Ekiti State Television for them to mobilise and defend the mandate they gave the governor.

“My mandate is your mandate and you must defend it,” said Mr Fayose in a live broadcast on Ekiti State Television on Sunday.

Meanwhile, the 19 APC lawmakers said the governor was never committed to peace.

A statement by Wole Olujobi, Special Adviser on Media to Speaker Adewale Omirin, said: “How do you reconcile this inciting broadcast with a plea he made for peace not quite 24 hours earlier which Ekiti people and indeed Nigerians thought was a good move by the governor to thaw the frozen relationship between him and the lawmakers? This is a confirmation of what Omirin said that the governor can’t be trusted in any peace move.”

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