There is disquiet in the Ekiti State Police Command over the monthly
payment of N10 million by the State Governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi to the
State Commissioner of Police (CP), Mr Sotonye Wakama.
Multiple sources alleged that the CP gets N10 million from Governor
Fayemi’s monthly Security Vote, but the huge sum has not been getting
to the junior officers.
Apart from the N10 million, about N4 million being released to the
police through the Senior Special Assistant to the governor on
Internal Security, Mr Adedeji Adesokan (Jaruu) is also causing
ripples.
Source close to some of the aggrieved junior officers said it was
because of the monthly N10 million that Mr. Wakama virtually turned
the State Police Command to the security arm of the ruling Action
Congress of Nigeria (ACN), closing his eyes to the criminal activities
of aides of Governor Fayemi.
Our source quoted a visibly angry junior officer to have said;
“Imagine the CP begging Chief Remi Oguntuase (Remog), who was attacked
by ACN thugs led by one Niyi Adedipe to drop the name of Ayo
Adaramodu, younger brother of Fayemi’s Chief of Staff, Yemi Adaramodu
from his complaint and saying that only Niyi Adedipe should be charged
to court.
“Imagine the CP refusing to prosecute those who placed a newspaper
advert accusing former Governor, Segun Oni of conniving with the Vice
President, Alhaji Namadi Sambo to cause chaos in the State, despite
that the case reported by Oni was investigated and it was found out
that the advert was paid for by a Press Officer in the office of
Fayemi’s Chief of Staff.
“Imagine the CP refusing to arrest the State Chairman of the ACN,
Chief Jide Awe and others that were involved in the murder of Ayo
Murphy Jeje in Erijiyan-Ekiti until Abuja intervened.
“Even when Jaruu (Governor Fayemi’s SSA internal security) led armed
policemen to attack Power Holdings Company of Nigeria officer, Ilori
Brown in the night, the CP simply kept silent. Nobody was arrested.
“When Fayemi’s aide, Tope Longe killed a student of Ekiti State
University, the CP looked the other way.
“All these are what the N10 million being collected monthly from
Governor Fayemi has turned the Commissioner of Police to and despite
that we don’t get to see the money, it is all of us in the State
Police Command that are being accused of partisanship.”
It should be recalled that on April 24, 2013, Chief Oguntuase,
popularly known as Remog, owner of Mobil Petrol Station, Ajilosun,
Ado-Ekiti was attacked at Soteria Hotel, GRA, Ado-Ekiti by thugs led
by the Ekiti State Coordinator of the Gani Adams faction of the Oodua
Peoples Congress (OPC), Niyi Adedipe otherwise known as Apase.
He (Oguntuase) was beaten blue black before he was bundled into a car
booth and taken to Fountain Hotel, Ado-Ekiti by the thugs.
At Fountain Hotel, Remog was brought before one Ayo Adaramodu, younger
brother to Yemi Adaramodu, Governor Kayode Fayemi’s Chief of Staff
(COS), where he was made to sit on the floor and assaulted severally.
Six weeks after the attack, none of those who attacked Oguntuase have
been charged to court and accusing fingers are being pointed at the
Police Commissioner as the one protecting the accused.
“Instead of charging those who attacked Remog to court, the CP is even
prevailing on him (Remog) to drop Ayo Adaramodu from the list of those
he accused of attacking him and so that only Niyi Adedipe will be made
to face trial.
“When has it become the duty of a Police Commissioner to be the one to
beg complainants to drop his complaints against an accused? That is
the ridiculous level the N10 million largesse has taken our CP to,” an
officer who craved anonymity told our reporter.
Last month, the State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)
had called for the transfer of the CP, describing him as a security
arm of the ACN government.
PDP, in a statement by the Director-General, Information and Media
Communication, Chief Gboyega Aribisogan, said people’s confidence in
Wakama had waned and what was left for the commissioner was for him to
be transferred out of the state.
The PDP statement said: “The spate of robbery and
politically-motivated crises in Ekiti State are becoming worrisome. It
has become obvious that the Commissioner of Police in the state
appears compromised and helpless.
“His relationship with the ruling Action Congress of Nigeria at the
expense of his duties and as the man in charge of the state Police
Command can no longer be tolerated by the teeming people of Ekiti
State.”
