By Romoke Alade
Former Speaker of the Ekiti State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Kola Adefemi, who is also the Legal Adviser of Ekiti State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), was yesterday beaten to a pulp by political thugs from rival factions in the PDP.
Also, the State Auditor of the party, Mr Tunji Olanrewaju, was not spared, as he was hit repeatedly on the head with stones and other dangerous missiles and stripped.
Journalists, who were invited to a press briefing by officials of the party, also sustained various degrees of injuries.
About 20 state correspondents of different national dailies were caught in the crossfire, and many had to scale fence and other barricades to escape.
Adefemi, who was bleeding profusely in the head and Olanrewaju were taken to a private hospital in Ado-Ekiti, Adetade Hospital, for treatment.
Gunshots also rent the air, as people scampered for safety.
It was gathered that the crisis was a fall out of the controversy that greeted the composition of an 11-man Consensus Screening Committee by the State Chairman, Mr. Makanjuola Ogundipe, on Friday.
The committee, headed by retired Justice Edward Ojuolape, has drawn mixed reactions from different groups in the party.
Some members of the State Working Committee are accusing the chairman of single handedly constituting the committee without input from others.
Elders of the party have advised that the committee be put on hold for wider consultations to be made.
