Another PDP Would-be Governor Murdered: THE spate of assassination in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) spread to Ekiti State as a gubernatorial aspirant, Dr. Ayodeji Daramola, was murdered as a political solution to the opposition.
The late Daramola, a former general manager of a community-based poverty reduction agency (EKCPRA), was slaughtered in his home in Ijan-Ekiti by suspected hired assassins.
Nigerian Tribune investigations revealed that the assassins armed with guns knives,clubs and other weapons and numbering 12, stormed the residence of the deceased in the wee hours of the day and shot him several times in the stomach. But when they saw that the bullets were not having any effects on him, they slaughered him.
It was learnt that the deceased returned home around 1.00am after about three different political meetings he held with some politicians in the town not knowing that his assailants had been drinking in a beer parlour close to his home while awaiting his arrival.
Sources at the deceased’s residence disclosed to the Nigerian Tribune that about five people were in the house when the gunmen arrived and some of them were badily beaten up, to the extent that one of them had to be hospitalized at the State Hospital, Ado-Ekiti.
“They scaled the fence of the building and when they entered the house, they found him asleep. They shot him repeatedly and when they discovered that the bullets did not penetrate his body, they removed two of his teeth with hard objects and also macheted him.
“When they saw that all these weapons used on him did not work, they then used a knife to slaughter him and they also removed his intestines with the same knife,” a man who claimed to be the deceased’s relation said.
When the Nigerian Tribune visited the house, one of the vehicles of the deceased, a black Ford Explorer Jeep with registration number Abuja E9 898ABC was seen vandalized as well as the broken door of his room.
The Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIG) Zone 8, comprising Ekiti, Kwara and Kogi states, Mr. John Ahmadu, who visited the scene was stunned by the barbaric act.
Ahmadu said investigations would commence immediately into the killing. He assured the people of the state that the police would do all it could to see that the killers were fished out. He said that the police would do its best to see that the culprits were brought to book.
Protest in Daramola’s home town. ON hearing the news of the murder of the PDP gubernatorial aspirant, Dr. Ayo Daramola, aggrieved youths in Ijan Ekiti, hometown of the deceased, yesterday went on rampage and vandalised houses and vehicles.
Investigations conducted by the Nigerian Tribune in Ijan Ekiti revealed that the youths mobilised themselves into groups and burnt vehicles and houses of perceived political opponents of the slain aspirant.
Investigations further revealed that the houses of the Ekiti State PDP chairman, Mr. Ropo Adesanya, who hails from Ijan Ekiti and the house of the personal assistant to the deputy governor of Ekiti State were also burnt.
The youths also burnt the beer parlour where the killers were said to have had drinks before carrying out their dastardly act. However, the intervention of a combined team of regular and mobile policemen drafted to the town saved the properties of some perceived political opponents of the slain politician from being burnt by the aggrieved youths.
They are also maintaining a tight security in the town. In his reaction, the Orujan of Ijan Ekiti, Oba Samuel Oyewole Fadahunsi, expressed shock at the incident and said that God would punish those who killed the politician.
The monarch who said he belonged to the same club as the deceased politician, described the assassination as inhuman and unfortunate. He said that Daramola’s murder was a great blow to him and the people of Ijan community. He called on the police to find the killers.
Also speaking with the Nigerian Tribune, one of the deceased’s relations who did not want to be named, described the death of the politician as barbaric and callous. He called on the police to conduct a thorough investigation aimed at finding the killers.
In an interview with the Ekiti State PDP chairman, Hon. Ropo Adesanya, he said: “I am very sad that somebody who has just defected to my party with an ambition has just been assassinated.
“It is a pity my house was set ablaze but property is nothing compared to my cousin that was killed by hired assassins. I am sad and still aggrieved about the whole situation.”
Fayose places N5m ransom on killers. EKITI State governor, Dr. Ayodele Fayose, has expressed shock at the gruesome murder of Dr. Ayodele Daramola, whom he described as an emerging light in the present generation of Ekiti indigenes.
According to a press statement made available to the Nigerian Tribune, Dr. Fayose said everything would be done to save the state from the machinations of desperate individuals and coalitions whose agenda was to turn the state into a battlefield.
While describing the late Dr. Daramola as a gentleman, a great intellect and a lover of the progress of Ekiti State, the governor said President Olusegun Obasanjo and Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Sunday Ehindero, were already aware of the unfortunate incident which came on the heels of the yet to be resolved murder of another PDP governorship aspirant, Chief Funsho Williams of Lagos State.
Fayose said all hands were on deck to unravel the identity of the murderers and that the Ekiti State government was providing a reward of N5 million for information that could lead to the apprehension of the killers.
The governor commiserated with the family of the slain politician, his kinsmen at Ijan-Ekiti and the chairman and entire people of Gbonyin Local Government Area over the murder of Dr. Ayodele Daramola.
Mourning in deceased’s Lagos residence. The Lagos residence of the slain Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) gubernatorial aspirant in Ekiti State, Dr. Ayodeji Daramola, was thrown into mourning on Monday as members of his family could not comprehend the rationale behind his killing.
The sympathisers who besieged his Gbagada residence in Lagos, tried in vain to console his wife, Mrs Kehinde Daramola, who was yet to come to terms with the killing of her husband.
Mrs Daramola who looked confused said she never contemplated that her husband could be the target of anybody. She said after the assassination of Engineer Funso Williams she never had the inkling that her husband would be the next target.
“They have killed my husband . If this is the sacrifice to pay for Ekiti State, it is too grievous for me to bear. Just recently Funso Williams was murdered and I never expected my husband would be the next target,” she said.
According to some members of the family, the late politician travelled to Ekiti State on the invitation some politicians. Dr. Daramola, who was said to have returned to Lagos from a trip to Ekiti State on Friday, quickly left Lagos for Ekiti on Saturday.
A member of the family who said the assassinated politician spoke with her some minutes after 11.00 p.m., stated his plan was to return to Lagos on Monday.
Dr. Daramola was said to have told his family sometime ago that there was a threat to his life after he declared his interest in the gubernatorial race. This led to his infrequent visit to the state until recently.
He was said to have resigned his appointment with the World Bank where he was the general manager of Poverty Reduction Agency, a unit of the bank. He was the head of the unit in Ekiti State until he was transferred to Abuja.
Dr. Daramola, who obtained a doctorate degree in Nutritional Economics, taught at the University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, before he joined the World Bank.
IG visits scene of incident. THE Inspector-General of Police (IG), Mr. Sunday Ehindero, yesterday arrived in Ado-Ekiti, capital of Ekiti State, over the assassination of Dr. Ayo Daramola, a gubernatorial aspirant in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
The IGP told journalists that the police would do everything possible to get the killers. He said he had visited the scene of the assassination and had gone to the mortuary to see the corpse of the slain politician.
Ehindero, who was on his way from Cross River State where he had witnessed the formal handing over of the controversial Bakassi Peninsula, said it was sad that he was visiting Ekiti State for the first time after his elevation to the IGP over a case of assassination.
He said the police had commenced investigations into the killing. Sources told the Nigerian Tribune that police officers immediately responded after they were informed of the killing. The police officers, led by the Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIG) in charge of Zone 8, Mr. John Amodu, cordoned off the scene and took finger-and footprints.
Police authorities at the Force Criminal Investigation Department (FCID), Alagbon, Lagos, have sent two fingerprints experts to Ekiti State for further investigation into the killing of Dr. Daramola.
Last week, the Ekiti State Commissioner of Police, Mrs. Uche Okoronkwo, had summoned all the political parties in the state to discuss issues on the coming elections, based on intelligence report that some politicians were training and equipping thugs.
She warned anyone involved in such an act to desist, stating that anyone arrested on the issue would be prosecuted. She equally advised party leaders and stakeholders to be security conscious.
She called on party leaders and aspirants to ensure that there was peace and harmony between the parties and their supporters in the state.
PDP condemns political killings. The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Monday raised alarm over the spate of political killings in the country, and urged the police to deploy all their investigative arsenal to unravel those behind the dastardly act.
Rising from an emergency meeting in Abuja, the National Working Committtee (NWC) of the PDP declared that its concern was heightened by the arson in Ekiti State following the killing of a governorship aspirant of the party and the destruction of PDP secretariat, the state chairman’s house and properties belonging to other party members.
The party in a statement made available to newsmen, however, said that there was the possibility of fifth columnist and agents. Also, human rights lawyer and an Ekiti State indigene, Mr. Femi Falana, on Monday alleged that the killers of Dr. Ayo Daramola were the same group of killers responsible for the attempted murder of Mr. Taye Fasuba on Monday morning in Ado-Ekiti and former deputy governor, Mr. Abiodun Aluko, last Friday.
Mr. Falana said Dr. Daramola was killed because of his aspiration to contest for the governorship of Ekiti State under the PDP. He told the Nigerian Tribune in a telephone interview on Monday that since last year, an SSS report had identified a killer gang being funded by some top people in Ekiti State with the sole objective of eliminating political opponents.
He warned that if the government could no longer protect the Ekiti people, “we will tell them to protect themselves.” Meanwhile, a senator representing Ekiti South, Dr. Bode Olowoporoku, while reacting to the murder of Daramola, said that terrorists had finally taken over the state.
Speaking with the Nigerian Tribune on phone, the federal lawmaker vowed to petition the United Nations Security Council on the state of affairs in the state, which he described as terrorism.