Ekiti governor, Ayo Fayose mobilises Okada riders and NURTW against impeachment bid

There appears to be no end in sight to the current face-off between the 19 All Progressives Congress, APC, lawmakers in the Ekiti State House of Assembly and Governor Ayo Fayose.

Some 20 minutes after leaving a church service where the clergyman advised the governor to embrace peace by reconciling with APC lawmakers, Gov. Fayose made a live broadcast on the Ekiti State Radio and Television, ESRT, where he told Ekiti people to defend their mandate from the APC lawmakers, who he claimed were coming to invade the state to impeach him today.

But the lawmakers are insisting on going ahead with Fayose and his deputy, Dr Kolapo Olusola’s removal.

This is coming barely 48 hours after Fayose promised to dialogue with the aggrieved lawmakers.

To ensure that the APC lawmakers would not achieve their motive, the Okada riders association and the commercial transport workers operating in the state are toeing the path of the governor by telling their members to converge on the premises of the state House of Assembly today at 6 a.m and defend the mandate freely given to Fayose and his deputy during the June 21, 2014 governorship election.

During the governor’s live broadcast on the ESRT, he told the people to defend their mandate from the invading APC lawmakers and defend him against the alleged impeachment.

He urged drivers and Okada riders in particular to move out en-masse to defend his mandate, saying: “My mandate is your mandate and you must defend it.”

Barely 10 minutes after, two statements emerged on the state radio as public announcements that were being broadcast intermittently.

Below are the transcripts of the two statements from the drivers union and Okada riders association.

“All Okada riders in Ekiti State are enjoined to be on the look-out for strange faces in the state from tomorrow. This is because it has been gathered that APC lawmakers working with Dr Adewale Omirin are planning to truncate the peace of the state by invading the state with armed thugs.

“All Okada riders in the state should be mobilised to the House of Assembly by 6 a.m tomorrow. Governor Fayose’s mandate is the mandate of Okada riders. We must defend it with the last drop of our blood.” Signed: Niyi Dahunsi, Chairman, Okada Riders Association.

In another announcement, the National Union of Road Transport Workers, NURTW, through its chairman, Clement Adekola said: “Information available to us is that the APC lawmakers are planning to invade the state with lorry-loads of thugs recruited from Lagos and Osun states tomorrow.

“The APC lawmakers have vowed to kill anyone that stands on their way to achieving the plot of impeaching Governor Fayose and his Deputy, Dr Kolapo Olusola.

“We, therefore, alert all members of our union to be on the look-out from tomorrow. All drivers unions members should be prepared to defend the mandate freely given to Governor Fayose.

“Our members should monitor movement of vehicles into Ekiti State from today so as to prevent invasion of thugs whose only intention is to kill our people. We gave our mandate to Fayose and we must be prepared to defend it.”

It was signed by Samuel Agbede, Chairman, Road Transport Workers Association of Nigeria and Clement Adekola, Chairman, National Union of Road Transport Workers.

Credit: Vanguard