All was tense yesterday in Ado-Ekiti as the 19 lawmakers who issued Governor Ayode Fayose an impeachment notice were barred from entering the state capital.
A woman, Modupe Olaiya, was reportedly killed in the wave of protests in many parts of the state against moves to remove Fayose from office.
Olaiya, according to eyewitnesses, was shot dead in Efon Alaaye during a protest that greeted the arrival in the town of the lawmakers who were on their way to Ado-Ekiti.
A statement from Speaker Adewale Omirin denied the death rumour.
The APC lawmakers ran into a barricade erected on the Ado-Ilesa-Aramoko Highway by the protesters at Itawure on the outskirts of Efon.
The police fired gunshots to disperse the protesters who had held up traffic.
Soldiers mounting a checkpoint at Efon-Itawure junction stopped the APC lawmakers from proceeding on their trip to Ado-Ekiti for their planned sitting.
It was not clear at press time whose directive the soldiers were carrying out.
Many parts of the state were shut down as suspected political thugs and members of drivers’ unions took over all roads leading into Ado-Ekiti and boundary towns.
The hemp-smoking and arms-bearing hoodlums blocked the federal highways as early as 6.30 am with trailers, luxury buses, logs of wood and other objects to prevent human and vehicular traffic.
They were acting on information that the APC lawmakers were on their way to Ado-Ekiti to hold a sitting at the House of Assembly to deliberate on the notice of impeachment issued Fayose and his deputy, Kolapo Olusola.
The lawmakers are accusing Fayose of eight impeachable offences.
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) members and hoodlums staged violent protests on the streets of Ado-Ekiti and other towns, warning architects of the planned impeachment to shelve the idea or face their wrath.
They protested in Ajilosun, Ijigbo, Odo-Ado, Old Garage, Okesa, Ojumose and Secretariat Road.
Other communities rocked by protests are: Ikere, Ise, Efon Alaaye, Aisegba, Iworoko, Ogotun and Igbemo.
Some of the roads affected are Ado-Ikere Road which leads to Akure, the Ondo State capital, Ado-Iworoko Road, which leads to Kwara, Kogi, Abuja and other northern states,Ado-Iyin-Igede Road, which leads to Ibadan and Lagos, Ado-Ijan Road, which leads to Ikare in Ondo State.
Passengers were stranded as the thugs made bonfires in many parts of Ado-Ekiti and other towns, such as Ikere-Ekiti, Ifaki-Ekiti, Igede-Ekiti and Oye-Ekiti.
Civil servants and others who live in Akure, the Ondo State capital, but work in Ado-Ekiti could not enter Ekiti State capital. Others who live in Ado and work in Akure were prevented from going to their places of work.
Some final year secondary school students writing their Senior School Certificate Examinations outside the state capital could not get vehicles to convey them to their schools.
Motorists and commuters passing through Ikere-Ekiti were stopped and searched by soldiers stationed around Odo-Oja Roundabout and on the outskirts of the town before being allowed to proceed with their journeys.
Taxi drivers and mini buses plying intra city routes had a harrowing experience in the hands of the hoodlums who maintained that nobody would be allowed to pass.
Many residents who were on their way to work returned to their homes because of the tense situation. Some of those who ventured out with the hope of boarding taxi cabs returned home, frustrated, after waiting for hours.
Soldiers and riot policemen later moved round the city to clear the barricades and bonfires erected by the hoodlums.
Markets, shops, and government offices were closed. Major markets in the state capital, sujch as Erekesan and Bisi, were quiet.
A band of hoodlums stationed at Oye-Ayede-Isan junction in Oye-Ekiti stopped a group of journalists from plying the road, claiming that “it is only a permission from the governor that they would be allowed passage”.
Vehicles going to Kogi State and Abuja from Kwara State were stopped by the thugs. Passengers were stranded at Oye junction.
A government-owned Ashok Leyland luxury bus was used to block one section of Ado-Ifaki Road, leaving a very little space for vehicles to meander through.
The House of Assembly’s vicinity was like a war zone as scores of battle-ready riot policemen stood guard at the Secretariat Road junction leading to the complex, preventing vehicular movement.
Another platoon of riot policemen blocked the Saliu Adeoti Road, which leads to the Assembly.
They had earlier dislodged a band of thugs who had stormed the Assembly complex.
One of the vehicles conveying the thugs to the Assembly complex, a blue Toyota Hilux van marked AA 363 YEK was impounded by the police after it occupants reportedly engaged security men in a shootout.
The Assembly complex and the House of Assembly Service Commission gates were locked. Another set of armed policemen and operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS) stood guard.
Eyewitnesses confirmed to reporters in Ado-Ekiti that the APC lawmakers were allegedly coming from Osun State and had rammed into the barricade mounted by the protesters at Ita Ore , a border town between
The Head of Service, Gbenga Faseluka, and organised labour under the
leaderships of Trade Union Congress (TUC) and Nigeria Labour Congress (NUC), had besieged the Assembly in protest, warning the lawmakers against plunging the state into violence.
Labour, in a statement signed by NLC Secretary Ade Obatoye, TUC Secretary Joseph Adebayo and JNC Secretary Oladele Ayodeji , told workers to see the development as a way of fomenting trouble and put their lives at risk.
Also yesterday, Igbemo-Ekiti residents, led by Chief Agamago Adetunji, visited the governor, declaring their support for him.
“Ekiti people elected you to be their leader and no power under the earth can remove you.
“We are praying for you and assuring you that you will win all the 26 Assembly seats during Saturday’s polls,” Adetunji told Fayose.
The Deputy Governor, who responded on behalf of the governor, likened the APC lawmakers’ action to the biblical war of Egypt against the people of Israel. He is confident that the governor will triumph over his enemies.
