Ekiti State Governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi, has said that a member of the House of Representatives, Hon Opeyemi Bamidele, is free to declare his interest in the 2014 governorship race in the South-West state as he (Bamidele) has an inalienable right to vie for the position “and I don’t have the power to stop him”.
He, however, advised that such aspiration should be pursued within the limits of the laws of the land, adding that Nigeria, like other civilised countries of the world, has laws guiding her electoral process.
Fayemi, who spoke against the background of controversies trailing last Thursday’s disruption of Bamidele’s political rally by men of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF), said in a statement, in Ado-Ekiti on Monday, that his administration had no hands in the matter as it was strictly a police affair .
The governor, in the statement signed by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr Olayinka Oyebode, stated that no fewer than 10 other governorship aspirants from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had declared interest in the race without any molestation from the APC-led government.
He queried the rationale behind Bamidele’s allegations that the disruption of his rally was at the prompting of the government.
The police, he maintained is not under the control of the state government, hence Bamidele’s claims that the police’s action was engineered by the state government is unfounded.
The statement, however said that the police, as a law enforcement agency, has the responsibility to determine actions and situations that can cause the breach of peace in the society and take appropriate actions to safe guard against such.
The statement reads in part: “A lot of misrepresentations have been peddled in the media about the event of last Thursday. And it is important to state clearly that the state Governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi, has no interest in stopping Hon Bamidele or anybody from declaring interest in the governorship race in the state.
“It is on record that no fewer than 10 aspirants have made public declaration of their interest in the race and none of them was harassed for doing so. If the police have an issue with Hon Bamidele’s approach, the most honourable thing for him to do is to comply with the laid down procedures instead of resorting to blame game and name calling.
“Ekiti State remains one of the most peaceful states in the country and the cooperation of all is needed to sustain the peaceful atmosphere and the tangible development across the state.”
