2019: Ekiti monarch charges politicians not to overheat polity with hate campaigns

…Govt Appeals For Calm As Residents Protest Lack Of Electricity
A frontline monarch in Ekiti State, the Ogoga of lkere kingdom, Oba Adejimi Adu Alagbado has cautioned politicians seeking for votes not to overheat the polity through hate campaigns, warning that Nigeria cannot afford to go to war again.

The monarch said that politicians must play by the rules, shun inciting and incendiary comments capable of causing mayhem, saying that the survival of Nigeria as a united country must be the guiding principle if the nation must survive. He stated this yesterday while briefing newsmen in Ikere-Ekiti on the current happenings in the country, noting that some politicians are already overheating the polity with their utterances and comments and warned that no election is worth the blood of any Nigerians. He urged the people to go out on Election Day and cast their votes for the candidate of their choice without any fear of intimidation, molestation or harassment.

In related news, the state government has appealed to residents of some areas in Ado Ekiti to shun violence in protest against prolonged power outage, which they linked to sabotage. Deputy Governor, Otunba Bisi Egbeyemi, urged the protesting residents to toe the line of peace while their complaints are being looked into.

Placard-carrying residents stormed Egbeyemi’s office urging the state government to prevail on Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC) to restore light to them. Egbeyemi who was represented by the Special Assistant on Political Matters, Tokunbo Adeparusi, said government was concerned about their plight but appealed to them to eschew violence in the pursuit of their demands and their message would be conveyed to appropriate organs of government for necessary action.

The protesters comprised of traders, artisans, students and other electricity consumers living in Similoluwa and Ori Apata areas of Ado Ekiti, the state capital. They accused BEDC of removing the cables of the transformers serving their areas to throw them into darkness and subject them to undue extortion. The leader of the protesters, Tope Ojo claimed that the only transformer serving the area is old and could no longer dispense electricity to the area as appropriate.

Ojo while lamenting the arbitrary service and non-challant attitude of the staff of BEDC, in restoring electricity to the area, said that the development had crippled their businesses and thereby brought untold hardship to the residents.