With about 19 days to the governorship election in Edo State, political violence has begun to rear its ugly head as a political aide to Blessing Agbebaku, speaker of the state House of Assembly, Samson Omorebokhae, was shot dead by unknown gun men, while in a separate incident, several persons, including a pregnant woman and a seven-month-old baby, sustained various degrees of injuries following an attack on members of the All Progressives Congress, APC.....KINDLY READ THE FULL STORY HERE▶
Both incidents took place on Saturday in Owan West local government area of the state. While Omorebokhae, a senior special assistant to the speaker was killed at Ozalla, the attack on APC supporters took place at Uhunmora, and was allegedly perpetrated by some young men said to be loyal to the speaker and the ruling People’s Democratic Party, PDP in the state.
While the late Omorebokhae was said to have been killed in an ambush near Ozalla when he was travelling, one David Iruedo, ward 2 secretary of the APC at Uhunmora, was attacked in his shop, allegedly with the backing of security operatives from the speaker’s residence.
Narrating the incident to journalists on Monday, the chairman of APC in the ward, Ogunlowo Collins, an amputee, said Iruedo’s shop was attacked and destroyed, and injuries inflicted on him and others because he refused to defect from the APC to the PDP. He said the attack was preceded by an unprovoked attack earlier in the day when one Odion Kelvin removed the cap an APC woman was wearing and burnt it.
Ogunlowo said they were expecting a chieftain of the APC when the pregnant woman who happened to be his wife, was attacked and that the issue was settled thereafter after some people intervened.
According to Ogunlowo, “Later in the evening, he (Kelvin) came to the shop of David Iruedo who they have been pressurising to cross over to the PDP with over 40 boys. They came backed with security men from the Speaker’s house. They were shouting that they have been told to kill all APC men in Ward II. They came with machetes, clubs with nails on them; they broke into his store, from the store to the inner room and the last room and beat the boy to stupor and left him for dead before we came to rescue him to the hospital. They were moving from one house to another shooting guns till in the evening with Blessing’s official vehicle chasing APC members from one place to another.
“There was another boy who they used plank with nails to pierce his head, while another was hit with another plank on the head, and he collapsed before we rushed him to the hospital. We were at the police station, and they only said we should incident what happened.”
Reacting to Omorebokhae’s killing, Agbebaku expressed deep sorrow and extended his condolences to the bereaved family. A statement by the speaker’s media aide, Ivy Adodo-Ebojele said Agbebaku immediately dispatched a delegation to visit the family to offer his condolences.
Adodo-Ebojele, special adviser on media, said the speaker described the death of his aide as “a profound loss” and a “painful situation”, and assured the family that every effort would be made to ensure that the perpetrators were apprehended and brought to justice, while also praying that God, in His infinite power, “will give the family a reason to smile again”
Meanwhile, the APC in a statement on Monday evening, demanded the arrest and prosecution of the Speaker in respect of the Uhunmora attack, for alleged electoral violence.
Acting state chairman of the party, Jarrett Tenebe, noted that the incident happened exactly one week after it raised the alarm over “some heinous plans” to disrupt the election by Agbebaku but that no action was taken by security agencies.
Tenebe claimed that eyewitnesses had identified some of the attackers, alleging that the four of them, and another, were involved in the July shootings in Benin City that led to the killing of a police officer, Inspector Akor Onuh.
Denying the allegation however, Agbebaku said what happened was a “beer parlour brawl” between people that have personal issues.
A statement by his media aide said “We are in the era of electioneering campaign, and it is a fact that the Speaker has overwhelmed the APC and the Labour Party with his proven records of developmental strides across the Owan Nation, hence they decided to come up with a ‘strategy’ to rope the Speaker in their mess and smear his name.
“We have also received confirmed reports of a plot by the APC to arrest Mr. Speaker and take him to Abuja before the September 21 governorship election, since victory is not in sight for them.
“However, in all of this, Mr. Speaker is not deterred as he has called on all Owan indigenes to join him in peaceful campaigns for more development and progress of the Owan Nation.”