Ekiti police command has said the anti-riot policeman involved in the shooting at the gathering of All Progressives Congress, APC, on Friday, June 1, 2018 was on illegal duty.
The policeman (name withheld) has been arrested along the politician who hired him from Lagos.
Mr. Caleb Chukwuemeka, who released a preliminary report on the incident, said on Saturday that the mobile policemen was attached to 20 PMF, Ikeja, Lagos State where he was posted in bank guard duties somewhere in Ikeja.
“The policeman came on illegal duty to Ekiti State
”A politician, who conspired and removed the said policeman from where he was posted by his Squadron Commander and came to Ado-Ekiti with him for an unofficial reasons has also been arrested.
“The police said findings had revealed that what happened was a case of accidental discharge on the part of a mobile police officer,’’ he said.
He confirmed: “On Friday, 1st June, 2018 at about 1700 hours, the policeman accidentally shot Opeyemi Bamidele and one other, but he has been arrested.’’
” The victims of his accidental discharge are currently responding to treatment at the hospital, while the injured policeman is equally responding to treatment in the protective custody”, the PPRO said.
Meanwhile, the party has suspended its governorship campaigns scheduled to begin on Monday because of the incident.
The shooting took place during a grand reception organized to welcome the party’s gubernatorial candidate, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, from Abuja at the party’s State secretariat in Ado Ekiti.
Fayemi was a former governor of Ekiti and until his nomination as candidate, the minister of steel and solid minerals.
The Chairman of the party, Chief Jide Awe, confirmed the postponement of the campaign.
According to him, the suspension will continue until the police can guarantee the safety and security of the candidate and other members of the party.
The party insisted that Friday’s shooting was an attempt to take the life of Dr. Kayode Fayemi, but narrowly missed the bullets which later hit a former member of House of Representatives and one of the APC senatorial aspirants, Mr. Opeyemi Bamidele.
The party also demanded thorough investigation of the matter by the police while outcome of the reports must be made public.
It also maintained its earlier stand that the state government was its major suspect.
The state government has however dismissed as “baseless and unfounded”, the claim by the APC that it had a hand in the incident.
Mr. Lere Olayinka, the Special Assistant on Public Communication and New Media to the governor, described what happened at the APC secretariat as “self-induced”.
He said that dragging the state government into it was a cheap ploy to shift blame and dent the image of government.
