Human rights activist and African Action Congress (AAC) presidential aspirant, Omoyele Sowore, has alleged that a mobile phone stolen from a member of his team during Friday’s attack in Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti State, has been traced to the Governor’s Lodge, raising fresh questions over the alleged involvement of individuals linked to the state government in the incident.
Sowore, who disclosed this in a social media post on Sunday, demanded that the Nigeria Police Force and the Department of State Services (DSS) immediately release CCTV footage from Tawakalitu Restaurant, where the attack reportedly occurred.
“One of the phones stolen from a member of our team during Friday’s brutal attack in Ado-Ekiti has now been traced to the Governor’s Lodge in Ekiti State,” Sowore said.
He added, “The @PoliceNG and @OfficialDSSNG must immediately release the CCTV footage from Tawakalitu Restaurant to the public. You cannot bury the evidence.”
The latest allegation has further intensified controversy surrounding the police investigation into the attack on Sowore and members of his team, who were reportedly assaulted shortly after the activist attended an interview at MIDAS FM 90.5 in Ado-Ekiti on Friday.
Sowore has accused individuals allegedly connected to the Ekiti State Government House and security operatives of involvement in the assault, which he has described as an assassination attempt.
On Saturday, the activist accused the Ekiti State Police Command of shielding the alleged masterminds of the attack, despite the arrest of 11 suspects announced by the police.
The police had said their operatives arrested the suspects at their hideouts in the Atikankan area of Ado-Ekiti at about 10pm on Friday, October 30, following a tip-off.
Items reportedly recovered from the suspects included two walkie-talkies, substances suspected to be Indian hemp and Colorado, seven ATM cards, 13 mobile phones, eight international passports and two suspected criminal charms.
Reacting to the arrests, Sowore said the police announcement effectively contradicted the command’s initial description of the incident as an altercation, insisting that it was a coordinated and violent assault.
“This is a major admission that what happened was no ordinary ‘altercation,’ as the same police initially tried to deceive the public into believing. It was a coordinated, violent attack that could have cost us our lives,” he said.
However, he maintained that the arrest of the 11 suspects would amount to little if those who allegedly organised, financed and coordinated the attack were not also apprehended.
Sowore specifically demanded the arrest of Adenijo Olusola, popularly known as Solar, whom he accused of participating in the coordination of the attack from the Ekiti State Government House.
He also implicated Governor Biodun Oyebanji’s Chief Security Officer, CSP Ayodele Akinlua, alleging that Solar worked alongside the security chief in coordinating the assault.
The activist further identified Omotuyi Temitope, popularly known as Tope Jinadu Small, as another alleged participant in the attack.
“Where are the masterminds? Where is Sola Adenijo, popularly known as Solar, whom we have identified as one of those involved in coordinating the attack from the State Governor’s Office, especially the CSO to the governor, CSP Ayodele Akinlua?” he asked.
Earlier reports by SaharaReporters also quoted eyewitnesses as identifying Solar and Tope Jinadu Small as alleged participants in the assault. However, the allegations against the two men have not been established by a court.
Solar has previously faced murder charges in two separate cases connected to political violence in Ekiti State.
In September 2014, he was among seven men prosecuted over the murder of former state chairman of the National Union of Road Transport Workers, Chief Omolafe Aderiye.
However, the Ekiti State High Court discharged and acquitted all seven defendants in January 2018 after ruling that the prosecution had failed to provide sufficient evidence linking them to the murder.
He was also arrested and arraigned alongside two other persons over the violence that erupted during the March 2021 Ekiti East Constituency 1 by-election in Omuo-Ekiti.
The charges reportedly included conspiracy, murder and attempted murder. However, no final High Court judgment or conviction against him in that case has been established from the records reviewed.
Tope Jinadu Small, on the other hand, was among the inmates who escaped from the Ado-Ekiti Correctional Centre during a jailbreak in 2012 involving 220 prisoners.
In June 2024, the then Ekiti State Police spokesperson, DSP Sunday Abutu, confirmed his arrest, disclosing that he had previously been remanded at the correctional facility over conspiracy and armed robbery charges.
According to Abutu, Tope Small and another inmate, Jimoh Sadiku, had allegedly collaborated with accomplices outside the facility to break the prison gate and facilitate the escape of inmates.
The former police spokesperson further disclosed that Tope Small fled to the United Arab Emirates, where he was arrested in connection with a murder case, imprisoned for six years and subsequently repatriated to Nigeria.
Meanwhile, Sowore has also accused DSS operatives of trailing and harassing him and members of his team before the attack in Ado-Ekiti.
The police had initially described the incident as an altercation involving Sowore and some individuals at Tawakalitu Restaurant, stating that the activist sustained injuries and was taken to a hospital for treatment.
However, Sowore rejected the police account, insisting that he and his team were victims of a coordinated assault rather than participants in an ordinary disagreement.
The allegation that a stolen phone from the activist’s team has now been traced to the Governor’s Lodge is expected to place additional pressure on the police and other security agencies to establish how the device allegedly got there, identify those responsible for the assault and determine whether anyone connected to the state government had any role in the incident.
The Ekiti State Government and the individuals accused by Sowore have not been reported as having responded to the latest phone-tracking allegation in the account provided.