My Story: How I Saved Corps Member From Mob By Ekiti Commissioner

Kayode-OlaosebikanThe Ekiti State Commissioner for Youth and Sports Development, Mr. Kayode Olaosebikan, who was accused of assaulting a member of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), Mr. Thompson Enobong, during the recently concluded continuous voter registration exercise at Otun Ekiti in Moba Local Council Area at the weekend, has denied the allegations.

The commissioner, however, warned the NYSC in the state against allowing its members to be dragged into the murky water of politics ahead of the June 21 governorship elections in the state.

Mr. Enobong, a 2013 Batch ‘C’ corps member was reportedly assaulted by the commissioner, who is also chairman of the NYSC Board in Ekiti, for refusing to register a party supporter more than once. He is said to be currently receiving treatment in the hospital for injuries sustained from the alleged assault.

Debunking the allegation before newsmen in Ado-Ekiti, the state capital, Olaosebikan said the matter, which he described as a minor issue, was unduly politicised by opposition parties. He said: “It was true that the corps member was shouting that a lady – the younger sister to my police orderly – should not register that day at the centre.

“The noise was so embarrassing that I had to go near and ask him not to be hostile to the people. As we were talking, the boy, who never knew I was a commissioner, just pushed me and my people wanted to mob him, but I was able to persuade them.

“I was even the one that took him into a waiting car that drove him to where he was supposed to work. It was during the fracas that I knew he was not supposed to work at that ward; he was not the presiding officer in that ward.

“But later, the issue went viral on social media that I beat him and that he had been hospitalised when nothing of such happened”.

Olaosebikan said he owed it a duty to ensure that every corps member posted to the state is safe from harm’s way as chairman of the NYSC Board and as the Commissioner for Youth and Sports.

Information Nigeria earlier reported that the commissioner was grilled last week by the State Police Commissioner, Mr. Felix Uyanna, over the matter.

The Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. Victor Babayemi, who confirmed that Olaosebikan was invited, said it was in connection with the alleged assault on a corps member at the registration centre.