The national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Prince Uche Secondus and former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar have deplored Wednesday’s police attack on the Ekiti State Governor, Ayo Fayose.
The duo also deplored the invasion of the Ekiti State Government House by police and other security personnel, where Fayose was allegedly tear gassed.
At a media briefing in Abuja, Secondus accused President Muhammadu Buhari and the All Progressives Congress (APC) of making a self-succession cruise to turn the country into a fascist state.
He recalled a recent statement by the national chairman of the APC, Mr. Adams Oshiomhole, saying that the ruling party was going to crush the opposition.
Secondus said the situation in Ekiti had reinforced the signpost of a manifest desire by the APC and its leaders to subdue the resilient spirit of Nigerians and set up a totalitarian regime in the country.
The party said, “This morning, in its desperation to forcefully take over Ekiti State, the APC-led Federal Government deployed armed police personnel led by one Compol Mopol Echel Echel, who blocked the Ekiti State Government House, attacked and placed the democratically elected governor of Ekiti State, Governor Ayodele Fayose, under house arrest. At the moment, no one goes in or out of the government house.
“The invading police squad sacked the official security at the Government House, fired sporadically into the premises during which Governor Fayose was beaten up by policemen and brought down by volleys of teargas while several others were injured.
“This, we have been informed, is part of the ‘order from above’, in line with the earlier boast by the Buhari-led APC, to ‘cage’ Governor Fayose ahead of the July 14, 2018 Ekiti governorship election, so as to grant their agents a field day to rig the election.
“In fact, we have been made aware that the invasion was a plot to assassinate Governor Fayose and blame it on accidental discharge by one of the policemen”.
The party chairman described the development as an assault on the governor and a siege to the government house, saying it constituted a recipe for violence.
“It’s a complete attack on our democratic order and direct assault on the corporate existence of Ekiti and her people as a federating part of our nation.
“We know that this is part of the desperate effort by the APC-led Federal Government to intimidate, subjugate, frighten and overawe the people and unleash a rigging mechanism for the election.”
Atiku described the development in Ekiti as appealing. In a statement in Abuja, Atiku said it was an uncivil assault on democracy and fell short of democratic best practices.
The former Vice President the administration that it came into being because the past administration of the PDP ensured free and fair elections at all levels in 2015.
The statement said, “Having been a beneficiary of such propriety, it is incumbent on the Federal Government not to deprive others of the ladder it was provided by its predecessors.
“Free, fair and credible elections are not a privilege. They are a right! The peaceful congregating of the good people of Ekiti State, be they members of the All Progressive Congress or the Peoples Democratic Party or of any other party, must be allowed by the Federal Government”.