The drivers and okada associations have rejected protest order handed down to them by Governor Ayodele Fayose, saying they would not be used to lose their lives while the governor keeps his own children thousands of miles away in luxury abroad.
The anger of the drivers and okada riders is hinged on the meager money given to them by Fayose to mobilise for the last week protest when they shut the state capital down.
One of the leaders of the drivers union said: "We can't continue to be used for dangerous assignment that can claim our lives. The governor gave us N5million for last week protest. If we were to share this money among all the drivers, the highest one driver can get is N500. Will we not be stupid if any one of us loses his life because of N500? "Besides, whose interest are we serving if we shut down the town and we don't have passengers to carry? Is it N500 he gives us that we will use to pay our instalment? Are we serving the governor's interest to fight against the protection of our own interest?"
Another union leader is more angry, wondering why the governor will put his children away from harm and ask defenseless and poor drivers to face fire from the police. Flashing a facebook picture of Fayose's son in a N45 million Range Rover luxury jeep with his girlfriend and other friends, the man said, angrily: "Se ori temi buru ni temi o le ko omo temi lo si ilu oyinbo ko ma jaye bi omo Fayose se njaye ni? Omo tie ngbadun nilu oyinbo sugbon o ni ki omo olomo ma a lo ba olopa ja. (Am I cursed that I can't send my own children abroad to be living in luxury like Fayose has done to his children? His children are enjoying abroad and he is asking us the poor to be fighting security agents on the streets).
Several of them said that anybody who risks going to the House of Assembly and dies in the process does so at his own risk because there are no motor parks in the House of Assembly.
One of them said: "What is our business in the House of Assembly? We have the roads and motor parks where we work. We are not going anywhere. We can't abandon our jobs. If the civil servants go on strike, their salaries are intact. If we don't work, there is no way we can pay our instalment.
." Investigation revealed the executives of the okada riders association are the only the ones now that are still mobilizing for the protest, even though some operators have fled the town on the excuse that they have outside engagements.
Unlike last week, Ado-Ekiti residents are moving freely without any molestation. Motor parks are full of life and commuters board vehicles to their destinations without any hitch.
Most parents are complaining that yesterday's public announcement to shut down the town has caused panic in the state, resulting in the fear to send their children to school.
Reliable sources said the soldiers imported last night into the state capital by Fayose with the aid of General Aliyu Momah have been ordered out of the town by the military command. General Momah himself has reportedly been ordered to report at the Defence Headquarters to explain the deployment of troops to Ekiti State.
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