A former member of the House of Representatives, Opeyemi Bamidele is said to be recuperating from the gunshot wounds sustained during a shooting in Ado Ekiti, the Ekiti state capital.

The incident occurred on Friday as a result of an accidental discharge at the take-off campaign of the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate, Kayode Fayemi.

A statement from his media aide says he is not in a coma as being reported in some quarters.

Bamidele and six others were hit by bullets and sustained various degrees of injuries through gunshots allegedly fired by a policeman drafted to maintain orderliness in the rally attended by a crowd of party adherents and admirers of the governorship candidate of the party.

The APC governorship candidate was said to have escaped the shooting.

However, the APC chairman in the state, Mr Jide Awe, who confirmed the incident to Channels Television is of the opinion that shooting was aimed at Fayemi, although Bamidele accidentally fell victim of the shot.

“When he shot at the crowd, I believe sincerely that he (the police) aimed at Dr Kayode Fayemi but narrowly, he (Fayemi) was pushed by somebody walking behind him,” Mr Awe revealed during a telephone interview on Politics Today.

“Opeyemi Bamidele was equally very near him and the shot hit him. But I can say authoritatively that he’s not badly hit, and he is recovering as we are talking,” he added.

Meanwhile, the police authorities in Ekiti state say they have arrested the police officer who fired the gunshot and the politician who allegedly withdrew him from his duty post in Lagos.