Fayose escapes as hoodlums attack driver in Ekiti

Former Ekiti State Governor Ayo Fayose
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Former Governor Ayo Fayose of Ekiti State on Saturday escaped an attack by hoodlums who trailed his vehicle to Ilupeju-Ekiti in Oye Local Government Area of the state.

The driver of the former governor, Mr. Nathaniel Saliu, told journalists on the telephone on Saturday, that he was not that lucky as the hoodlums who trailed his vehicle from Ilupeju to Ire-Ekiti caught up with him and beat him mercilessly.

Saliu said the hoodlums who were in a Hilux van dragged him out of the car and asked him where Fayose was.

Saliu said he was attacked between Ilupeju and Ire at about 12 noon when he had to slow down at a bad portion of the road.

Narrating his ordeal, he said the SUV he was driving was crossed by his attackers and four fierce looking men came out of the vehicle and asked him of his boss’s whereabouts as they descended on him.

Saliu said he had taken the former governor to Abuja, but that he told the attackers that his boss was in Lagos and that he just returned to Ekiti with the car.

According to him, the hoodlums had planned to kill his boss if they had found him in the vehicle. 

The driver said the hoodlums left him and went back into their vehicle when they discovered that the former governor was not inside the vehicle.

Saliu said he reported the attack at the Okeila Police Station in Ado-Ekiti immediately.

However, the Police Public Relations Officer in the state, Mr. Victor Babayemi, said he was not aware of the attack.

He said, “I cannot confirm that. But I will let you know when I get any information on it.”

Fayose, in his reaction to the attack, said he escaped being killed by providence.

He called on security agencies in the state to rise up to the challenge and ensure that everybody in the state is safe.

It would be recalled that last week, Fayose’s planned meeting with some members of the Peoples Democratic Party was disrupted in some towns while there was a clash in Oye-Ekiti where six persons were injured.

The Director General of Ayo Fayose Campaign Organisation, Mr. Gboyega Oguntuase, had accused the ruling Action Congress of Nigeria of being behind the clash but the Director of Publicity of the Action Congress of Nigeria, Mr. Tai Oguntayo, said the party knew nothing about the crisis.

Oguntayo said those disrupting Fayose’s meeting might be some of those the former governor “harassed while he was in office.”