According to Punch, the Peoples Democratic Party in Ekiti State has accused the leaders of the All Progressives Congress of begging some notable monarchs and other influential indigenes of the state to intervene in the murder cases filed against its members.
The party alleged that the APC in the state had approached about five first-class traditional rulers in the state to appeal to Governor Ayodele Fayose in order to evade justice.
A statement on Tuesday issued by the state Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Mr. Jackson Adebayo, revealed that the APC set up a special delegation led by a former deputy chairman of the party to carry out the assignment in an apparent move to save the accused persons from being convicted.
Adebayo stressed that the leadership of the opposition party considered this after their team of lawyers concluded their assessment of the murder cases against the accused, and reported that there was no way any of them could escape being convicted.
He added that some of the members of the delegation were also sent to the Chief Judge of the state, Justice Ayodeji Daramola to exercise caution pending the outcome of the mediation by the monarchs and the emissary to the governor.
But the state APC Publicity Secretary, Taiwo Olatubosun, has described the allegation as a lie.
Speaking with The Punch correspondent in a telephone interview on Tuesday, Olatubosun said the government could not sustain the “political cases targeted at their political opponents to keep them out of circulation.”
Adebayo reiterated the commitment of the PDP government in Ekiti State to the rule of law and the maintenance of law and order, saying, “this is the only way by which any other person that may be thinking of engaging in crime will desist or at least leave the state.
“We appeal to our traditional rulers not to carry out any intervention for anybody going about to seek their help on how to shield criminals in Ekiti State from the hand of the law. (Punch)