We ran from Ekiti over fear of arrest – lawmakers

A new twist has been added to the growing faceoff between the Ekiti State government and security agencies, as eleven members of the state House of Assembly have said they left the state over fears of impending arrest.

This is contrary to an earlier statement by Lere Olayinka, the Special Assistant to Governor Ayodele Fayose on Public Communication and New Media.

Lere had said that eleven lawmakers, top government officials and two chieftains of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, from each local government area were arrested Tuesday night.

However, the lawmkers said they can no longer sleep in their homes because of alleged persistent threats and intimidation by some policemen sent from police headquarters in Abuja.

Read also: Police carries out N’Assembly’s order, seals Kogi assembly

According to the lawmakers, who spoke through the Deputy Speaker, Segun Adewunmi, at the NUJ Press Centre, Iyaganku, Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, despite their relocation outside the state, they are prepared to withstand anybody who tried to prevent them from doing their legislative duties.

Adewunmi said: “We assembled here and decided to leave Ekiti. As at now, the governor cannot find any member of the House of Assembly. As we are here talking, others are out of the state.

“No amount of intimidation, arrest, detention, harassment and monetary inducement will make us dance to the tune of those whose only interest is to truncate the Fayose-led government and return to power through the backdoor.

“We have come here to alert the public about the new clandestine plot of the All Progressives Congress (APC)-led federal government to cripple the government of Ekiti State”.

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