Fayemi wants to frame me for murder –Bamidele

A House of Representatives member and governorship aspirant of the Labour Party in Ekiti State, Opeyemi Bamidele, on Thursday raised the alarm over an alleged plot by Governor Kayode Fayemi and the All Progressives Congress in the state to frame him for attempted murder.

Bamidele accused the Ekiti State government of being desperate to link him with the “rumoured attempt” on the life of Governor Kayode Fayemi’s Special Adviser on Security, Mr. Deji Adesokan, a.k.a Jaru.

Bamidele in a statement made available to journalists by his media aide, Ahmed Salami, said the two accused persons in the matter, Afolabi Oyediran and Oluwafemi Sunday, were not the House member’s allies as claimed.

Both Oyediran and Sunday were said to have been arrested within the premises of Adesokan last year.

The statement said it was absurd and “smacked of deceit and ignorance” for the APC in Ekiti to have linked Bamidele with the two accused persons when no such information was contained in their statements to the police or in the affidavits deposed to in court.

It described as malicious the claim that the two accused persons were Bamidele’s security aides.

It said, “Nothing can be farther from the truth than this. It represents another failed and desperate attempt by Governor Fayemi and his cronies to pull Bamidele down from his towering political heights by all means. No doubt, this is a deliberate set up.

“Otherwise, this is an attempt to cover up yet another embarrassing protest by some of Jaru’s goons.

“Without mincing words, it is clear to us that the linking of the detainees to Bamidele was another smear campaign to malign his (Bamidele’s) image and a calculated ploy to discredit his personality.”

“APC and Governor Kayode Fayemi’s government desperately contrived sinister means through which they could negotiate the withdrawal of cases pending in court against Interim Chairman of the party, Mr. Jide Awe; and nine alleged killers of Bamidele’s loyalist, Mr. Foluso Ogundare,” it added.

Reacting, the Director of Media and Publicity of the Ekiti APC, Mr. Segun Dipe, said, “It is quite unfortunate that Bamidele, who is a legal practitioner, is trying to give the impression that our judiciary is compromising.

“For us in the All Progressives Congress and the state government, our focus is on 2014. We do not have time for frivolities and trivialities.”