Edo State Denies Attack On Deputy Governor

BEVERLY HILLS, May 02, (THEWILL) – The Edo State Government has dismissed as false the claim by the Deputy Governor, Dr Pius Odubu that an attempt was made by thugs to assassinate him at Auchi, in the Estako West Local Government Area of the state.

The state government, in a statement by the Commissioner of Information and Orientation, Prince Kassim Afegbua, said although the incident was condemnable, the claim was not only untrue but appeared hasty.

Afegbua revealed that the clash was caused by thugs allegedly loyal to the Deputy Governor, as preliminary reports suggested that security details attached to him, allegedly fired the first shots to scare away party supporters, who kicked against the presence of the thugs in their area.

“It is instructive to note that the deputy governor was inside the secretariat building of the APC in company with the party chairman in the local government, Alhaji Umoru Akokhia, addressing the delegates while thugs, loyal to him, who had become unruly, fired gunshots at other APC loyalists, who were outside protesting against his visit,” the statement read.

“It should be noted that among those who sustained injuries are APC loyalists, who are presently receiving medical attention in the hospital.

“It is laughable that the Odubu Campaign Organisation will allege that the deputy governor, with a full compliments of security details, was shot at, yet no casualty was recorded on the other side and nobody apprehended.

“Given the above scenario, we find it lousy for anyone to impute assassination theory as propounded by the Odubu Campaign Organisation especially when investigations are still ongoing and the police are yet to submit their findings on the fracas.”

Although Odubu was not injured, the incident left eight persons critically injured, including a policeman and an operative of the State Security Service.

THEWILL recalls that Odubu had last Wednesday formally declared his intention to run for the September 10 gubernatorial election in the state, under the All Progressives Congress and succeed his boss, Adams Oshiomhole.

Story by David Oputah