The Ekiti State chapters of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressives Congress (APC) yesterday exchanged words over attack on the state’s PDP Publicity Secretary, Mr Jackson Adebayo.
Adebayo said he was attacked on Friday night by three armed men in Ado-Ekiti, the state capital.
A statement by the Chief Press Secretary to the Ekiti State governor, Idowu Adelusi, said Adebayo was receiving treatment at a private hospital for injuries from the attack.
Recounting his ordeal, Adebayo said his assailants, numbering three, accosted him on a motorbike at the Federal Housing Estate area of the town at about 9pm on Friday.
“I was going for a vigil in the church when three armed men on a motorbike accosted me. Two of them came down with their guns and started shooting sporadically. They seized me and hit my head against the asphalt on the road and the man on the bike ordered them to shoot me, but the men said they should leave me,” he said.
Adebayo said he suspected it was a political attack, alleging that he had received threats to his life.
Commenting on the development, the state chairman of PDP, Mr. Gboyega Oguntuase, accused the opposition APC of fomenting trouble in the state.
“The APC members are known for eliminating those against them. Since they have started going after my executives and party members, we are calling on people of the state and God to save us,” he said.
But reacting to Oguntuase’s allegation, the Ekiti APC Publicity Secretary, Taiwo Olatunbosun, said, “I don’t want to join issues with Adebayo. But we should let him realize that night crawling is not what a person like him should be involved in. He is taking politics to a ridiculous and embarrassing level. Let Jackson stop night crawling. That is not an issue that he should politicize. We have to sympathize with him; we as a party are not identified with violence and we’ll not be violent with the opposition”.
The state Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. Alberto Adeyemi said, “Mr. Jackson Adebayo has reported the alleged attack to the police but we are still investigating the incident.”
