Innocent Anaba and Wahab Abdulah
30 July 2007
Ado — The ongoing murder and attempted murder trial in Ekiti State of some persons, who were alleged to be involved in the murder of some prominent indigenes of the state during the tenure of former governor Ayo Fayose has taken a new twist.
One of the key witnesses in the trial, one Mr Adeniyi Adedipe, yesterday claimed that the cases were orchestrated to forcefully remove Fayose from office.
Adedipe who claimed he was the Ekiti State Coordinator of the Odua Peoples Congress (OPC) at the time, admitted that although Fayose made his own mistakes, he (Fayose) was not involved in the murder of Dr Ayo Daramola or the attempted murder of the former Ado Ekiti local government council chairman, Mr Taye Fasuba. The cases are presently before an Ekiti High Court sitting in Ado-Ekiti.
Addressing newsmen in Lagos, Adedipe said that he decided to open up, claiming that he observed that his life is being threatened, after he decided not to testify in court against the suspects, behind the alleged falsehood on how Fasuba was attacked and how Dr Daramola was murdered in cold blood in his home town, Ijan Ekiti, December 2006.
The said Adedipe, in an affidavit, sworn to at Federal High Court, Lagos, averred "that Daramola was killed by suspected armed robbers contrary to claims that the former governor was responsible for this". He claimed that all the actions were carried out to prevent the removal of the Ewi of Ado Ekiti, Oba Rufus Adejuyigbe from office by the former governor Fayose.
He further averred, "sometimes in August 2006, one Dr Daramola of blessed memory, World Bank consultant and a gubernatorial aspirant in Ekiti State under the People Democratic Party was also attacked and killed by suspected armed robbers. After the announcement of the death of Daramola, the then Inspector General of Police, Mr Sunday Ehindero, started investigation into the death, which I even assisted in fishing out the suspected killers".
"However, later I was invited by the IGP to Abuja and thereafter, he took me to the President where they said that the attack on Fasuba and Daramola was an opportunity for them to influence, intimidate and manipulate the Ekiti State House of Assembly to commence impeachment proceedings against Fayose and eventually remove him, because we all wanted Fayose at that time to be removed as Governor, I agreed with them but declared that neither Fayose nor myself knew anything about the attack".
"They declared that they knew, but that we had to rope him in and that I was the only one that could do it by presenting some of my OPC men to the police who would give statements to the police that Fayose and I conspired with them to attack Fasuba and that after Fayose's removal the OPC members would be released and the case would be closed."
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