I didn't hire thugs to disrupt APC NASS primary

From Priscilla Ediare, Ado-Ekiti

The lawmaker representing Moba/Ilejemeje/Ido-Osi Federal Constituency, Hon. Kolawole Davidson Akinlayo, has denied hiring armed thugs to disrupt the All Progressives Congress House of Representatives primary election on Saturday, May 16, in Ekiti State.

The lawmaker, who is seeking re-election, said the allegation was politically motivated, adding that he has never sponsored, encouraged or been involved in any acts capable of disrupting the peaceful process of any election within or outside the state.

The APC had earlier scheduled the House of Representatives primary election for Friday, May 15, but postponed it to Saturday, May 16, 2026.

Police in the state arrested and paraded 11 political thugs armed with dangerous weapons at the Onikoyi Hotel in Ikun-Ekiti, Moba Local Government Area of the state, and they alleged that the federal lawmaker had hired them to destabilise the poll.

Reacting, Akinlayo clarified that nine out of the eleven suspects arrested and paraded are appointees of the government, while the remaining two are his media aides.

He said he could not have provided ammunition for appointees of the government and also instructed them to use the weapons to work against the government.

While appealing for a level playing field for all aspirants, he described himself as a loyal party man who is deeply committed to a credible, peaceful, transparent, and violence-free electoral process and opposes any acts that could negatively affect the party’s internal democracy.

“The allegation was politically motivated, and nine out of the eleven (11) suspects arrested and paraded by the police are appointees of the government, while the remaining two are my media aides.

“They said they went to that hotel and caught some people, it is only two people that I know from that group, the head of my media, and the assistant media, they are, Boluwatife Ishola and Babatope Ibitola who are well known in Ekiti State. They are media gurus and they have never been involved in any criminality. If you look at all my posts online they are the ones posting them, the two of them, they are both on salary, they are media gurus in Ekiti State.

Everybody knows them, why did they wrap them and count them as criminals for crying out loud, because of politics?, We can do better, this is Ekiti, we can do better.

“The rest they have arrested we all know them in town, none of them is from my constituency, none of them came to work for me and I don’t live in the hotel, I only lodged for two days and I have left the hotel since and I have come to my house.

“I have a house that I have built over 15 years. Why should I live in a hotel? it is just because it has been a while that I came home so I just visited but they caught a snake in my house and we have to fumigate the place and I left the house for two days so that it can be habitable, that was the reason why I stayed in the hotel and I used that to also patronise the owner of the hotel but I have left the hotel since.

“The suspects the police said they arrested are appointees of the government, except for the two people I said are my media aides. All the other nine suspects are appointees of the government. We all know them, Ijaya is well known in the society and he is an appointee of the government and they are on government payroll, they are non-state actors in the state. So, how are they working for me? Is it possible for me to buy appointees of government guns and also ask them to use the weapons to work against the government. How come they said I bought them guns? Do I have a gun myself? Why would I buy somebody gun to do what?

“I didn’t hire anybody to disrupt the primary election and I didn’t know when the arrest happened, I was not in the hotel, I was in my house when it happened. I got to know about it in the news so I don’t know how it happened.

“I campaigned in Ilejemeje yesterday (Thursday), after the campaign I went for security meeting after that I resumed my campaign but my opponent has not campaigned in a single ward and they want results written. Is that how democracy is practiced?. Now he is intimidating people that people should not come out to vote on Saturday. I said people must come out to vote for the candidate of their choice, you can’t intimidate people, people must come out and vote that is what we are saying, it is as simple as that, nobody is asking for too much, people must come out to vote.

“Throughout my campaign nobody was injured, no single injury. How can they now lay claim that I sponsored thugs to disrupt the election.

“My people have been calling me they will come out en masse tomorrow, but people are calling them that they should not come out that if they go out they will attack them. Why are they afraid of free and fair contest? Why is my opponent afraid? Why is he not campaigning? Why is he not reaching out to people?. He has been talking about Femi Gbajabiamila, the Chief of Staff to President Bola Tinubu. He has been laying claims to Gbaja, that he is Gbaja’s candidate, he is Presidency’s candidate. He has been dropping Gbaja’s name up and down, claiming that Gbaja is the one that asked him to come and contest, that he is the one sponsoring him, he is using Gbaja’s name to intimidate everybody around.

“I am appealing to security agencies to provide level playing field and provide necessary security to safeguard lives and property, let them be at every ward, the DSS, the Civil Defence, the Police should be there. People will troop out to vote for the candidate of their choice, There should be no intimidation.

“I am appealing to the state government to allow level playing field for all aspirants to test their popularity in the election.”

“It is incumbent on every one of us to safeguard this democracy; some people sacrificed their lives because of this democracy, and some people want to turn it into a battlefield. It shouldn’t be so.”