The Ekiti
State Police Command has said it will deal ruthlessly with any politician who
causes any crisis ahead of the governorship election next year.
The
Commissioner of Police, Abdullahi Chafe, while briefing journalists on Thursday
at the command’s headquarters in Ado-Ekiti, said the police would not tolerate
“hooliganism and thuggery in the name of politics.”
He said the
force would be apolitical and fair to all political parties but will be firm in
its dealings.
He commended
the state government and the public for supplying the police with information
that has aided its fight against crime.
“They
(politicians) should see the coming election as more of a game than a war. They
shouldn’t kill or maim all because they want to win election, we are not going
to tolerate these.
“Let me
state clearly that our work is statutorily to protect the lives of all
Nigerians, so we are going to be fair to all politicians. Whatever we do for
any politician in party A shall be replicated for others. We are not going to
take sides, because the police as far as I know are not supposed to be
political,’’ Mr Chafe said.
Over 50
aspirants are believed to be jostling for the governorship seat in the state
ahead of the polls.
The
aspirants, majorly from the two major political parties in the state, the
Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and the All Progressives Congress, APC, are
already making deft political moves to clinch the coveted position.
The state
governor, Ayodele Fayose, also upped the ante politically, recently when he
said nothing barred him constitutionally from contesting the election.
Mr. Fayose,
a fierce critic of the APC led federal government, in May said he would vie for
the position in 2018 so that he can ‘serve his term which was truncated through
an illegal impeachment in 2006.’
The Supreme
Court in 2014 had nullified Mr. Fayose’s impeachment from the office about
seven months to the end of his first term.
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