Policeman Involved In Ekiti Shooting Dismissed From Force- Police
The mobile policeman involved in the shooting at All Progressives Congress (APC) Secretariat in Ado Ekiti, the Ekiti state capital last Friday, has been dismissed from the force.
The policeman’s gunshots during a welcome rally organized for the governorship candidate of the party, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, hit and injured former House of Representatives member, Hon. Opeyemi Bamidele and five others.
The Commissioner of Police, Ekiti Command, Mr. Bello Ahmed, disclosed this while featuring on a live television programme, on Monday.
Ahmed, who was on a telephone interview said “the policeman involved is dismissed already and even though he is nursing some injury; and at the appropriate time, he will face the law of course. Nigerians will be briefed on the outcome of our actions.”
He also said that the politician that brought the erring cop to the rally was also in detention and that at the appropriate time, he would be charged to court.
On measures in place for the coming election in the state, the Ekiti CP said: “We have robust arrangement to regulate and observe these political activities as it is unwinding in Ekiti State, in fact in the entire state. We just got a robust deployment of mobile policemen and that will be increased as the campaigns are progressing.
The police boss who later held meeting with stakeholders also met with chairmen of political parties in the state and urged them to be guided by the rules governing the conduct of election in all their activities to prevent anarchy in the state.
While warning the politicians against flouting the 1999 constitution and the Electoral Act in the name of election, he said” we called this meeting to calm down the polity which is fast becoming unnecessarily hit up and getting charged.
“The state has been peaceful all the while but it is not getting tensed”.
The meeting with the stakeholders in the election according to him was to brainstorm on how to ensure peaceful conduct of the coming governorship election and that the riot act has been read to them to serve as a guided principle.
Ahmed promised that his men will provide level playing field for all political parties and be neutral in their operations before, during and after July 14 election.
“What I want from men is professionalism. We are going to be guided by the instrumentality of the law, because this election is going to be a different ball game”.
Speaking on why more anti-riot policemen were deployed to the state, he said “You know what is on the ground will determine what will be done. If the satiation on ground dictates we behave otherwise.
“We are going to regulate every inch of activity in the state. We will not sit down and tolerate any act of lawlessness, whoever is involved. The police, we are willing, competent to take action against any group or persons, either individual or groups as far this campaign is concerned.”
The Chairman of APC, Ekiti chapter, Chief Jide Awe, described the meeting as a fruitful deliberation, saying the police boss spoke frankly and expressed his feelings about the comportments of political parties.
“The police boss spoke frankly and he told us to warn our supporters to respect the 1999 constitution and the Electoral Act and this we have to do in the interest of our dear state.
“We want to rule over living and not dead people, so we need to exercise restraint in the way we conduct ourselves”.
Also speaking, the PDP chairman Barrister Gboyega Oguntuase, said what the police boss preached at the meeting was civility and decorum from all political parties, which he assured his party will stringently comply with.
“As much as we believe in this, he must also not be unaware of something, you can’t rig election and be expecting decorum.
“What our people will resist is corruption and rigging and once the police and other security agencies are ready to be neutral, then there will be peace”.
Other chairmen at the party conceded to the idea that credible election must be conducted in Ekiti to avert crisis