TheCable

The Ekiti state police command says the officer who shot Opeyemi Bamidele, a former member of the house of representatives, and some members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state, has been dismissed.

Bello Ahmed, Ekiti state police commissioner, announced this on Monday.

Bamidele was shot on Friday at the party’s secretariat during a reception organised for Kayode Fayemi, the governorship candidate of the APC in the July 14 election in Ekiti.

Speaking on Channels Television on Monday, Ahmed said despite the dismissal, the policeman who was mobbed at the scene of the incident and still nursing injury would face the law.

“We are going to regulate every inch of activity in the state. We will not sit down and tolerate any act of lawlessness, whoever is involved,” he said.

“We are willing and competent to take action against any group or persons, either individual or groups as far this campaign is concerned.”

He, however, explained that it was an accidental discharge “because no right-thinking policeman will cork and start shooting”.

The APC had said the shooting was deliberate and was aimed at Fayemi, but the police commissioner dismissed the comment, warning people not to make politics out of the situation.

“He might have corked his rifle before arriving that scene and you know how crowded political activities are always. I believe as the campaign was almost finishing, he might have touched the trigger that pulled out the bullet,” he said.

Caleb Ikechukwu, the Ekiti police spokesman, had told TheCable that the officer who was in the state illegally, was arrested alongside an unnamed politician who allegedly, conspired with him.

The incident has made the APC suspend its campaign activities in the state.

On Sunday, Bamidele was moved to Lagos for post-surgery treatment.