A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Mr Opeyemi Bamidele, and five other persons were shot on Friday in Ado-Ekiti at a reception for the candidate of the party, Dr Kayode Fayemi.
The reception which held at the APC secretariat in the Ekiti capital had attracted a large crowd of party supporters.
Governor Rotimi Akeredolu of Ondo State, Fayemi and a former Minister of Works, Dayo Adeyeye, were descending the stairs case at the secretariat when a policeman was said to have suddenly shot into the air to scare the surging crowd.
Opeyemi Bamidele and five other people were hit by bullets.
Bamidele was struck in the belly.
The APC last night gave the names of the other victims as Olabode Joshua, Olanrewaju Gbenga, Adebayo Ogunjemilehin, Ogunmodede Oluwole and Alex Adeleye, and alleged that the real target was Fayemi himself.
Governor Ayodele Fayose said the attack was self-induced.
His spokesman, Lere Olayinka, said the bullet that hit Bamidele and others was “fired by one of the armed mobile policemen who accompanied Governor Rotimi Akeredolu of Ondo State.”
The wounded people were rushed to the hospital for treatment.
The suspected policeman was overpowered and disarmed by angry party members who also gave him the beating of his life.
He was saved from possible death by his colleagues.
The APC spokesperson in the state, Taiwo Olatunbosun, in a statement described the incident as “a clear case of assassination attempt.’’
He claimed that the gunman had aimed his gun at Fayemi and missed, with the bullet hitting Bamidele and the other victim.
He also claimed that the policeman was fake and an assassin.
But the police spokesman in the state, Caleb Chukwuemeka, said the command was still awaiting the report of the incident from its officers deployed to provide security at the reception.
