Thugs were allegedly sent after Adeleke and his colleagues for endorsing the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.) at the rally held in Ado-Ekiti last Saturday.
The APC had fingered the Governor as the one responsible for the attack on Samson; the National Vice-President, External, National Association of Nigerian Students, Tosin Ogunkuade; a former Chairman, NANS Joint Campus Committee, Ekiti State, Oluwadamilare Bewaji, and Idowu Odebunmi.
A statement by the spokesperson of the EYV, Charles Fakunle, said, “We read in the newspapers and social media about the gruesome attack on a Students’ Union Leader, Comrade Adeleke Samson (Obama), by suspected thugs of Ekiti State Governor, Mr. Ayodele Fayose.
“His offence was that he attended General Muhammadu Buhari’s Presidential rally which held last Saturday and joined other student leaders to endorse him.
“The thugs trailed Obama and his colleagues to Ikogosi Ekiti where they were brutally attacked with machetes and axes. It was in this process that Obama was abducted and taken to the bush where he was dealt machete cuts on his head which almost broke his skull. His other colleagues escaped by the whiskers and ran to Aramoko police station to report the incident.
“To add insult to injury, his colleagues, Ogunkuade Tosin, Odebunmi Idowu, Oloye and one other were arrested by the police in Aramoko when they went to report there.
“The fifth student, Bewaji Damilare, who went to check on them was also arrested and all were thereafter transferred to Ado-Ekiti police headquarters.”
Fakunle wondered why the students leaders that had been branded as “armed robbers” by one of Fayose’s aides were released without charging them to court.
“We wish to alert all men of good conscience to come to the aid of the students who have become endangered species in Ekiti State simply because they support the candidacy of General Muhammadu Buhari.
“The right to support a candidate of choice based on personal conviction is guaranteed by the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“There is no reason why Governor Fayose should send thugs to go after those who don’t share his political belief, neither can he explain why he should lead thugs from town to town to shoot sporadically and harass political opponents in a democracy that is supposed to guarantee freedom of choice.”
Fakunle urged Fayose to tread softly, warning that the governor will incur the wrath of Ekiti youth if anything bad happened to Adeleke who was still unconscious in the hospital.
He also demanded an unreserved apology from the Police to the students “who were unjustly detained after being attacked while they (Police) left the thugs who attacked them to go scot-free because they are untouchable!
“The police must fetch the thugs who attacked Comrade Obama and bring them to book without further delay while we pray God to spare the life of the maimed student leader,” Fakunke added.
Punch.
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